Duodenal immunoglobulin deficiency in graft versus host disease (GVHD) mice

The small intestine is a well documented target organ in mouse and human GVHD, and diarrhea is a prominent part of the clinical GVHD syndrome. Although a plethora of systemic immune deficits has been documented in GVHD, the integrity of the small intestinal immune system has not been investigated. A correlation has not been demonstrated between systemic immune dysfuction and the incidence of lymphomas in mouse GVHD survivors. If gastrointestinal immune deficiency exists in mouse GVHD, its possible relationship to GVHD lymphomas, frequently abdominal. should be investigated. GVHD was produced in newborn BLA (C57 BL/Ka females x BALB-C males) mice house in a specific pathogen-free environment by the i.p. inoculation of 10(7) male BALB-C spleen cells. Control mice received syngeneic spleen cells. Twenty GVHD and 16 control mice were sacrificed at 3 weeks and specimens of duodenum were removed for routine histologic and immunofluorescent examination. All but one GVHD mouse (95%) had virtually absent duodenal IgA and IgM. Duodenal cellular fluorescence was demonstrated in all controls. A significant duodenal immunoglobulin deficit has been demonstrated in 3-week-old GVHD mice. The relationship of this finding to GVHD diarrhea, wasting, and neoplasia remains to be determined.