Skip Navigation


International Immunology Advance Access originally published online on August 12, 2008
International Immunology 2008 20(10):1343-1349; doi:10.1093/intimm/dxn092
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/10/1343    most recent
dxn092v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ito, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ito, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Japanese Society for Immunology. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

NK cells contribute to the skin graft rejection promoted by CD4+ T cells activated through the indirect allorecognition pathway

Akiko Ito1,*, Hideki Shimura1,*, Ayano Nitahara1, Katsuhiro Tomiyama1, Masaaki Ito1, Takuro Kanekura2, Ko Okumura3, Hideo Yagita3 and Kazuhiro Kawai2

1 Division of Dermatology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata 951-8510, Japan
2 Deparment of Dermatology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan
3 Department of Immunology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan

Correspondence to: K. Kawai; E-mail: kazkawai{at}m2.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp

Rejection of solid organ allografts is promoted by T cells. Recipient T cells can directly recognize intact allo-MHC molecules on donor cells and can also indirectly recognize processed donor-derived allo-peptides presented by recipient antigen-presenting cells in the context of self-MHC molecules. Although CD4+ T cells primed through the indirect allorecognition pathway alone are sufficient to promote acute allograft rejection, it is unknown how they can mediate graft destruction without cognate recognition of donor cells. In this study, we analyzed the indirect effector mechanism of skin allograft rejection using a mouse model in which SCID recipients bearing MHC class II-deficient skin allografts were adoptively transferred with CD4+ T cells. Histologically, entire graft necrosis was preceded by mononuclear cell infiltration in the graft epithelia with epithelial cell apoptosis, indicating cell-mediated cytotoxicity against donor cells as an effector mechanism. Beside CD4+ T cells and macrophages, NK cells infiltrated in the rejecting grafts. Depletion of NK cells as well as blocking of the activating NK receptor NKG2D allowed prolonged survival of the grafts. Expression of NKG2D ligands was up-regulated in the rejecting grafts. These results suggest that NK cells activated through NKG2D contribute to the skin allograft rejection promoted by indirectly primed CD4+ T cells.

Keywords: NKG2D, transplantation

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

Transmitting editor: M. Miyasaka

Received 11 April 2008, accepted 17 July 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.