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Blood, Vol. 92 No. 2 (July 15), 1998:
pp. 690-694
By
From the Departments of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory
Medicine, and Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL.
It has been shown that peripheral-blood mononuclear leukocytes (MNL)
are responsible for transfusion-induced alloimmunization to donor major
histocompatability complex (MHC) antigens. However, it is not known
which subset of MNL is responsible for this immune response. Because
elimination of class-II MHC antigen-positive passenger leukocytes
effectively prolongs the survival of allografts, it has been
hypothesized that class-II positive MNL are responsible for immunizing
transfusion recipients to donor MHC antigens. To test this hypothesis,
two different approaches were used. First, we compared the
alloantigenicity of BALB/c mice (H-2d) peripheral blood MNL
before and after depletion of class-II positive cells. CBA mice
(H-2k) were used as transfusion recipients. Antibody
development to donor class-I H-2 antigens was determined by flow
cytometry and enzyme-linked immunoassay. After four weekly transfusions
of MNL depleted for class-II positive cells, only 25% of recipient
mice developed antibodies to donor H-2d antigens. In
contrast, all mice transfused with control MNL became immunized.
Second, we studied the alloantigenicity of peripheral MNL from C57BL/6
mice (H-2b) with homozygous deficiency of class-II MHC
molecules in H-2 disparate recipient mice. After transfusions with
class-II MHC molecule-deficient MNL, 0% of BALB/c, 40% of C57BR, and
25% of CBA-recipient mice developed antibodies to donor
H-2b antigen. All control recipient mice were immunized.
The antibody activities of the controls were also higher than those in
the treatment group who became immunized. Thus, our study shows that class-II MHC antigen-positive MNL play a significant role in
transfusion-induced alloimmunization to donor class-I MHC antigens. The
results also support the hypothesis that direct antigen presentation by
donor class-II positive MNL to the immune system of transfusion
recipients is critical for the initiation of humoral immune response to
donor MHC antigens.
ALLOIMMUNIZATION TO donor class-I major
histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens is one of the major
immunological complications of blood component therapy. This
complication often leads to platelet transfusion refractoriness or
ineligibility of patients for transplantation of allografts. In view of
the highly polymorphic nature of class-I MHC antigens and presence of
these antigens in all components of blood,1 the development
of antibodies to donor MHC antigens after transfusion should not be
surprising. Nevertheless, class-I MHC antigens in soluble form or on
isolated cell membranes have been found to be poorly
immunogenic.2,3 This finding indicates that class-I MHC
molecules by themselves are not effective immunogens, and intact donor
leukocytes are responsible for transfusion-induced alloimmunization to
MHC antigens. This conclusion is further supported by studies showing
that removal or inactivation of leukocytes in platelet concentrates is
effective for preventing transfusion-induced primary immunization to
donor MHC antigens,4-8 even though leukocytes only
contribute to less than 1% of total class-I MHC antigens in platelet
concentrates.1 All these studies suggest that class-I MHC
molecules cannot be efficiently processed by antigen presenting cells
of transfusion recipients, and direct interaction between donor
leukocytes and the recipient immune system plays a dominant role in
transfusion-induced alloimmunization to donor MHC antigens.
It is therefore of interest to know which population of donor
leukocytes is involved in alloimmunizing transfusion recipients. Results from such a study would provide a better understanding of the
cellular mechanism by which the immune response is initiated in
transfusion recipients. Previously, Faustman et al9
reported that elimination of class-II positive passenger leukocytes was effective in prolonging the survival of pancreatic islet allografts in
H-2 disparate recipient mice. Because class-II positive leukocytes including monocytes, dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes are known to
provide important costimulatory signals for mounting successful immune
responses10 and helper T cells can interact with antigen presenting cells carrying self or nonself class-II MHC
molecules, it is likely that class-II positive donor leukocytes are
responsible for direct initiation of transfusion-induced
alloimmunization to class-I MHC antigens.
To test this hypothesis, we studied the effect of depleting class-II
positive cells on the immunogenicity of donor leukocytes and
investigated the alloantigenicity of peripheral blood leukocytes from
mice with homozygous deficiency of class-II MHC molecules. The results
are reported herein.
Animals
Antibodies, Hybridomas, and Streptavidin Beads
Determination of Zygosity of Class-II MHC Molecule-Deficient Mice The zygosity of class-II MHC molecule-deficient BL6 mice was determined by measuring numbers of CD4-positive and IA-b-positive cells in peripheral mononuclear leukocytes (MNL) using immunofluorescent flow cytometry, and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of neomycin resistance gene in genomic DNA. CD4-positive cells were severely deficient (<3% of peripheral MNL) and IA-b-positive MNL were absent in BL6 mice with homozygous deficiency of class-II MHC molecules. In contrast, there are 13% to 25% of CD4-positive T cells and 25% to 40% of IA-b-positive MNL in peripheral MNL of the heterozygous mice. Both the heterozygous and the homozygous mice were positive for neomycin resistance gene by PCR.Preparation of Peripheral MNL Peripheral MNL were prepared from freshly collected venous blood by differential and Ficoll-hypaque gradient centrifugation as described previously,7 and were suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Concentrations of MNL were determined by hemacytometers after staining cells with propidium iodide.7Depletion of Class-II MHC Antigen-Positive or Thy-1.2 Positive Leukocytes Leukocytes positive for class-II MHC antigens were depleted by incubating 5×106 cells with 5 µg biotin anti-IA-d MoAbs (PharMingen) in 500 µL ice-cold PBS buffer containing 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA; [PBS-BSA]) for 30 minutes. The cells were washed twice with 2 mL of ice-cold PBS-BSA and resuspended in 0.5 mL PBS-BSA. The washed cells then were incubated with 5×107 M280 streptavidin magnetic beads (Dynal, Lake Success, NY) under constant rocking at 4°C for 20 minutes. The beads were washed extensively three times with PBS-BSA before use. The incubation was stopped by adding 0.5 mL PBS-BSA. After gentle mixing, free streptavidin beads and cells coated with the beads were removed magnetically. The cells that remained in the supernatant were harvested and washed twice with PBS and suspended in PBS for transfusion. The purity of the final cell preparation was assessed by immunofluorescent flow cytometry using FITC conjugate of anti-IA/IE-d MoAbs. For depletion of T cells, biotin anti-Thy-1.2 MoAbs and streptavidin beads were used by following the procedure as described above.Transfusions of MNL Each recipient mouse was transfused with donor leukocytes suspended in 100 µL PBS, once a week through a tail vein, under light anesthesia with inhalation of methoxyflurane (Pitman-Moore Inc, Mundelein, IL). Preimmune serum samples were prepared from venous blood collected through retro-orbital bleeding 1 or 2 days before the first transfusion. Thereafter, serum samples were collected after every two weekly transfusions of leukocytes and assayed for the presence of antibodies to donor MHC antigens. Numbers of donor leukocytes and transfusions given to each recipient mouse varied according to the experimental designs.Immunofluorescent Flow Cytometry The presence of antibodies to donor H-2 antigens was determined by immunofluorescent flow cytometry.7 Briefly, spleen MNL (1.5×105 cells) from mice of known H-2 phenotype were suspended in 20 µL PBS containing 0.1% sodium azide and 1% BSA (PBS-azide-BSA) and incubated with 10 µL serum at room temperature for 45 minutes. The cells were washed three times and stained with 30 µL of 40x diluted fluorescein-labeled goat antimouse IgG-Fc antibody (Sigma Corp, St Louis, MO) for 30 minutes. After three washes, cells were resuspended in 0.5 mL PBS-azide-BSA. The mean fluorescent intensities of 1×104 cells were measured in arbitrary units using a FACScan flow cytometer and Lysis-II software (Becton Dickinson, Palo Alto, CA). A pooled preimmune serum was used as a negative control and an immune serum known to contain antibodies against H-2 antigens on target cells was used as a positive control. Based on the result of our previous study,7 a serum sample that produced a mean fluorescent intensity greater than 1.5 times the mean fluorescent intensity of the pooled preimmune serum was considered positive for antibody to donor H-2 antigens.Enzyme-Linked Immunoassay (EIA) for Detecting Antibodies to Class-I H-2 Antigens To show the development of antibodies specific to class-I H-2 molecules in transfusion-recipient mice, serum samples were also assayed by EIA using purified class-I H-2 molecules as targets. For this assay, plastic wells of an immunoassay plate were coated with 50 µL of 0.75 µg/mL class-I H-2 molecules diluted in PBS containing 0.02% sodium azide. Class-I H-2 molecules were isolated from spleen cells as reported.12 After coating with class-I H-2b or H-2d molecules, each well was blocked with 1% BSA, and sequentially incubated with 5× diluted mouse serum, alkaline phosphatase conjugate of goat antimouse IgG antibody, and alkaline phosphatase substrate.12
Alloantigenicity of Peripheral MNL After Depletion of Class-II MHC Antigen-Positive Cells Our first approach to investigate the role of class-II positive donor leukocytes in transfusion-induced alloimmunization was to study how depletion of class-II positive cells affected the immunogenicity of H-2 disparate donor MNL. Class-II positive leukocytes including B cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells were removed using biotin conjugate of anti-IA-d MoAb and streptavidin magnetic beads. According to immunofluorescent flow cytometric analyses, this purging method always removed more than 95% of class-II positive leukocytes (Table 1).
Differential Leukocyte Counts in Peripheral Blood of Class-II MHC
Molecule-Deficient Mice
Immunogenicity of MNL from Class-II MHC Gene Knockout BL/6 Mice
To show the role of class-II positive donor leukocytes in
transfusion-induced alloimmunization to class-I MHC antigens, we first
investigated how removal of class-II positive MNL affected the
immunogenicity of donor MNL using a well-established BALB/c to CBA
transfusion model.7,12 Although we were able to deplete 95% of class-II positive MNL, some class-II positive MNL remained. To
minimize the potential interference by the remaining class-II positive
MNL, we chose to transfuse each CBA recipient mouse with 1×105 BALB/c leukocytes. Based on our earlier
study,7 this dose of undepleted MNL approached to a maximal
but not supramaximal immunogenicity. The use of this dose of donor
leukocytes not only provided a more stringent test system, but also
allowed us to have sufficient sensitivity to detect any reduced
antigenicity. To exclude the possibility that the reduced
alloantigenicity in part resulted from exposure to less
quantities of class-I MHC antigens on donor leukocytes after
depletion of class-II positive cells, we measured the amount of class-I
MHC antigens on donor leukocytes before and after depletion of class-II
positive cells. We found that the difference was 7% and small
(Table 1). According to our previous dose-response
study,7 the immunogenicity of class-I H-2 molecules was
slightly decreased after reducing donor leukocyte dose from
1×105 to 2.5×104 leukocytes.
Because we transfused each mouse with 1×105
MNL, 7% reduction of class-I MHC antigens on 1×105
MNL should not have a significant impact on the final interpretation of
our experiments.
Submitted December 29, 1997;
accepted July 15, 1998.
We thank Sandra Donahue for her excellent technical assistance.
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