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From the Schepens Eye Research Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. Two-millimeter-diameter guinea pig corneal buttons were transplanted into 1.5-mm-diameter graft beds on mouse corneas using 12 interrupted sutures. Eyelids were maintained occluded with tarsorrhaphy except at the times of clinical inspection. Grafts were considered to be rejected when the pupil margin was not visible clearly through the graft by slit-lamp microscopy.
RESULTS. Guinea pig corneas protected from desiccation by persistent tarsorrhaphy survived indefinitely in the eyes of C.B-17SCID mice but were rejected acutely (but not hyperacutely) in eyes of normal BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice (median survival times, MST, 16 and 10 days, respectively). Graft survival was not extended in mice deficient in µ heavy chain or ß-2 microglobulin genes, slightly extended in mice deficient in the C3 gene (MST of 21 versus 17 days) and greatly extended in mice deficient in the CD4 gene (MST of 26 versus 9 days). Reconstitution of CD4 knock-out (KO) mice with CD4+ T cells promoted acute rejection of corneal xenografts.
CONCLUSIONS. Hyperacute rejection does not occur in guinea pig corneal xenografts in mouse eyes, indicating that corneal xenografts are less vulnerable to this type of rejection than other solid tissue xenografts. CD4+ T cells are the primary mediators of acute graft rejection, although complement may contribute in a minor way. Neither antibodies nor CD8+ T cells participate in acute graft rejection. Because guinea pig cornea grafts in eyes of CD4KO mice are rejected in a delayed fashion, other innate and/or adaptive immune effectors must also be able to cause rejection of orthotopic corneal xenografts.
| Introduction |
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There are features of the cornea that suggest that its fate as a xenograft might be different from that of other types of solid tissue grafts. First, the cornea is avascular, and, therefore, it may not be vulnerable to hyperacute rejection that occurs when natural antibodies bind to vascular endothelial cells. Second, the cornea forms the anterior surface of the anterior chamber, and the aqueous humor that fills the chamber contains several extremely potent anticomplementary activities.10 Even if natural antibodies were to bind to corneal endothelium, factors in aqueous humor may thwart complement activation. Third, the cornea is devoid of bone marrowderived cells termed "passenger leukocytes."11 12 13 14 In other solid tissue organs, dendritic cells and macrophages confer on the graft a high level of immunogenicity. In their absence, the ability of a graft to induce immunity to graft-derived antigens is reduced.15 Fourth, the constitutive expression of CD95 ligand on corneal endothelium has been revealed as a critical factor in the privileged survival of orthotopic corneal allografts in mice.16 17
In the recent past, two groups of investigators have reported on the fate of orthotopic corneal xenografts in a discordant combination using rats as recipients. Whereas Larkin et al.18 observed rejection of corneal xenografts within 3 days and ascribed the mechanism of rejection to humoral antibodies, Ross et al.19 didnt observe rejection until 7 to 9 days and reported indirect evidence that antibodies participated in the graft destruction, especially in preimmunized recipients. Although both studies found evidence of presumed T cellmediated antigraft reactions, no conclusions were reached on the relative contributions of antibodies and cell-mediated immunity to the rejection process.
To explore and resolve the immunologic mechanisms of corneal xenograft rejection, we chose a discordant combination using guinea pigs as donors and mice as recipients. Our results show that acute, but not hyperacute, rejection occurs in this discordant species combination. Moreover, our evidence indicates that CD4+ T cells rather than xenoreactive antibodies play the most significant role in acute rejection of corneal xenografts.
| Methods |
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Orthotopic Corneal Grafting
Donor guinea pig corneas were excised by 2.0-mm-diameter trephine
and placed in Hanks balanced salt solution until grafting. The graft
bed was prepared by excising with vannas scissors a 1.5-mm site from
the central cornea of the right eye. The graft was placed in the
recipient bed and secured with 12 interrupted 11-0 nylon sutures
(Sharpoint; Vanguard, Houston, TX) juxtaposed to the epithelial surface
of the recipient cornea. Antibiotic ointment was applied to the corneal
surface, and the lids were closed with an 8-0 nylon tarsorrhaphy.
Tarsorrhaphy was maintained (except for clinical inspection purposes)
until graft rejection was documented. Corneal sutures were removed on
day 8.
Assessment of Graft Survival
Grafts were evaluated by slit-lamp biomicroscopy three times a
week. The day of rejection was defined when graft transparency was lost
(i.e., the iris margin and iris structure were not visible clearly
through the graft), and graft clarity never recovered subsequently. For
histologic evaluation, grafted eyes were enucleated, fixed and
imbedded in methacrylate, sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and
eosin (H & E), and examined by light microscopy.
Assay of Xenoreactive Antibodies in Mouse Sera
Antiguinea pig IgM and IgG antibodies were measured using flow
cytometry, as described previously.20
CD4+ T-Cell Reconstitution
Cervical, inguinal, and mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen were
obtained from naive C57BL/6 mice. Spleen cells, depleted of red blood
cells by lysis with TrisNH4Cl, and lymph nodes
cells were pressed through nylon mesh to produce a single-cell
suspension. T cells were purified to >90% by a T cellenrichment
column (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN). After staining with rat
anti-mouse CD8 antibody, CD4+ T cells were
purified to >90% by magnetic beads (Biotecx Laboratories, Houston,
TX). CD4+ T cells (15 x
106) were injected intravenously into CD4
knock-out (KO) mice. Corneal xenotransplantation was performed on the
day after reconstitution with CD4+ T cells.
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis of graft survival, enabling comparison of
median survival times (MST), was performed using the MantelCox rank
test.
| Results |
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Fate of Xenogeneic Corneal Grafts in Mice with Selected Genes
Knocked Out: µ Heavy Chain of Immunoglobulin, Third Component of
Complement, ß-2 Microglobulin, and CD4
Mice deficient in the µ heavy chain of immunoglobulin gene (µ
KO) lack B cells and the capacity to produce antibodies. These mice,
plus their wild-type controls, served as recipients of orthotopic
guinea pig cornea grafts. The MSTs of these grafts were determined and
are presented in Table 1
. Grafts in both groups of mice were rejected acutely, and there was no
difference between the two groups. This result formally excludes
antibodies as a requirement for acute rejection of orthotopic guinea
pig cornea grafts.
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Mice deficient in the ß-2 microglobulin gene (ß-2 µ KO) express class Ia and Ib molecules poorly, and these mice are deficient in class Irestricted CD8+ T cells and NK T cells. As the results presented in Table 1 show, guinea pig corneas were rejected acutely and at comparable rates in ß-2µ KO mice and in their wild-type controls. At least with respect to acute xenograft rejection, these results indicate that CD8+ T cells (and NK T cells) are not required.
CD4KO mice lack class IIrestricted CD4+ T cells, an important effector of solid tissue and cornea allografts. Mice of this type and their wild-type controls received orthotopic guinea pig cornea grafts. As the results presented in Table 1 reveal, grafts in the eyes of CD4KO mice survived significantly longer than grafts placed in the eyes of wild-type mice (P < 0.0001). For discussion purposes, we refer to the rapid rejection (within 23 weeks) of corneal xenografts in normal C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice as "acute" and the delayed rejection (beyond 36 weeks) observed in CD4KO mice as "chronic." To explain the difference between acute and chronic rejection, we postulate that CD4+ T cells are the primary, if not the exclusive, mediators of acute rejection of orthotopic guinea pig cornea grafts in mice.
Fate of Xenogeneic Corneal Grafts in the Eyes of CD4KO Mice
Reconstituted with CD4+ T Cells
To test the hypothesis that CD4+ T cells are
the mediators of acute corneal xenograft rejection in mice, a
reconstitution experiment was performed. Guinea pig corneas were
grafted into the eyes of CD4KO mice 1 day after these mice received,
intravenously, 15 x 106
CD4+ T cells from syngeneic donors with an intact
CD4 gene. The results of this experiment are presented in Figure 3 . Reconstituted CD4KO mice rejected guinea pig cornea grafts
significantly more swiftly than did nonreconstituted CD4KO mice. This
result confirms the key role played by CD4+ T
cells in acute rejection of orthotopic guinea pig cornea xenografts in
mice.
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| Discussion |
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We are confident that tarsorrhaphy has no unsuspected protective effect on the capacity of the immune system to destroy cornea grafts. We have conducted experiments with orthotopic corneal allografts that were protected by persistent tarsorrhaphy. We found that allografts placed in both normal and "high-risk" mouse eyes were rejected with the expected tempo and frequency of grafts unprotected by tarsorrhaphy (data not shown).
Our findings that orthotopic guinea pig xenografts survived in SCID mouse eyes beyond 8 weeks, but were rejected between 8 and 16 days in the eyes of normal C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice, indicate that cornea xenografts evoke a destructive adaptive immunity. A similar conclusion was reached by Yamagami et al.,21 who reported on the fate of corneal xenografts in a concordant (rat to mouse) situation. Guinea pigs and mice are discordant, and mouse serum constitutively contains antiguinea pig antibodies. Despite the finding that serum antiguinea pig IgG titers rose in the sera of C57BL/6 and BALB/c recipients of guinea pig cornea mice (at about the time the orthotopic grafts were rejected), the MST of cornea xenografts in mice genetically deficient in B cells and antibody formation was virtually identical with that of wild-type mice. Thus, we conclude that antibodies play little or no role in the process by which normal mice reject guinea pig cornea grafts acutely. Moreover, no hyperacute rejection (3 days or less) was observed in normal mice that received orthotopic corneal xenografts, indicating that the constitutive presence of preformed antiguinea pig antibodies also has no deleterious effect on graft survival. The utter failure of antibodies to influence graft outcome in mice probably relates to the bloodocular barrier, which severely limits access of high-molecular-weight blood-borne molecules into the eye,22 and the intense anti-complementary properties of aqueous humor.10 23 24 Thus, the guinea pig cornea in the mouse eye differs from other solid tissue xenografts placed in mice in its virtual invulnerability to antibody-mediated rejection.
Rather, acute rejection of orthotopic guinea pig corneas in mice appears to be mediated primarily, if not exclusively, by CD4+ T cells. In the recent past, Takano and Williams25 have published indirect evidence that CD4+ T cells participate in rejection of corneal xenografts in rats. Pierson et al.26 reported a similar mechanism in the rejection of xenogeneic skin grafts in mice. Not only did we find that acute rejection was avoided by guinea pig grafts placed in the eyes of CD4KO mice but that reconstitution of these mice with normal CD4+ T cells restored the capacity to reject. No similar loss of capacity to reject grafts was observed in mice deficient in CD8+ (or NK) T cells. In mice, rejection of orthotopic skin xenografts is mediated largely by CD4+ T cells.26 When orthotopic corneal allografts have been studied in mice, CD4+ T cells have also been identified as the primary mediators of acute graft rejection.27 28 Moreover, the majority of effector T cells in this circumstance is activated via the so-called indirect pathway of allorecognition,29 which means that peptides from donor alloantigens are detected when presented in the context of recipient class I and II major histocompatibility complex molecules. We are currently testing whether recognition and rejection of guinea pig corneas in mice are similarly mediated by "indirect" xenoreactive CD4+ T cells.
Despite this emphasis on a key role for CD4+ T cells in acute rejection of corneal xenografts in mice, we are not discarding other effector mechanisms as possible contributors. Although guinea pig cornea grafts in the eyes of CD4KO mice were not rejected acutely, many of those grafted were eventually destroyed in a chronic fashion. We do not understand the pathogenesis of these delayed rejections. Several possibilities exist. First, CD4KO mice may, in principle, be slightly "leaky" (although we have no evidence to suggest that). If so, very small numbers of CD4+ T cells could emerge through time in these mice and accumulate in sufficient quantities to effect chronic graft rejection. Second, it is possible that CD8+ T cells participate in delayed, chronic, rejection. Our current results merely exclude these cells from participating in an important way in acute rejection. Third, the slight but significant prolongation in graft survival observed in the eyes of mice deficient in C3 may correlate with a role for complement in chronic graft rejection, perhaps through the antibody-independent, alternative, pathway. Finally, innate, rather than adaptive, immune effectors may be the culprits responsible for chronic xenograft rejection. Innate cells (NK cells, macrophages) have already been implicated in the rejection of other solid tissue and organ xenografts.8 9 Experiments to test this and other possibilities are currently under way.
We have initiated our studies on the immunobiology of orthotopic corneal xenografts because of unique properties of the cornea and the anterior chamber of the eye, which might mitigate the vulnerability of these grafts to rejection. Our results encourage further research in this area. The apparent invulnerability of corneal xenografts to antibody-mediated injury gives them a significant advantage over vascularized solid tissue xenografts. In addition, the key role played by CD4+ T cells in acute cornea xenograft rejection suggests that already established immunosuppressive regimens may exist that would be effective treatments.27 28 29 30 Topical steroid therapy has long been used to reverse orthotopic corneal allograft rejection in human beings and might be similarly effective in orthotopic corneal xenografts. In an abstract communication, She et al.31 reported that the survival of mouse corneas grafted to the eyes of rats was markedly enhanced by the induction of anterior chamber associated immune deviation to mouse alloantigens and by subconjunctival injection of dexamethasone. Experiments to test the effectiveness of topical and systemic immunosuppressive agents in the guinea pig to mouse orthotopic corneal xenograft model will be able to answer this important question.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication June 28, 1999; revised September 24, November 11, 1999, and January 4, 2000; accepted January 26, 2000.
Commercial relationships policy: N.
Corresponding author: J. Wayne Streilein, Schepens Eye Research Institute, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114. waynes{at}vision.eri.harvard.edu
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