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Lesions of T-Cell-Mediated Kidney Allograft Rejection in Mice Do Not Require Perforin or Granzymes A and B

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 4; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00421.x

1600-6143

Philip F. Halloran, Joan Urmson, Vido Ramassar, Anette Melk, Lin-Fu Zhu, Brendan P. Halloran, R. Chris Bleackley,

Transplantation: Methods and Outcomes

Organ allograft rejection is strongly associated with the presence of alloreactive cytotoxic T cells but the role of cytotoxicity in the pathologic lesions is unclear. Previous studies showed that the principal lesions of kidney rejection - interstitial infiltration, tubulitis, and endothelial arteritis - are T-cell-dependent and antibody-independent. We studied the role of cytotoxic granule components perforin and granzymes A and B in the evolution of the T-cell-mediated lesions of mouse kidney transplant rejection. By real-time RT-PCR, allografts rejecting in wild-type hosts at days 5, 7, 21, and 42 showed massively elevated and persistent expression of perforin and granzymes A and B, but evolution of tubulitis and arteritis did not correlate with increasing granzyme or perforin expression. Allografts transplanted into hosts with disrupted genes for perforin or granzymes A and B showed no change in tubulitis, arteritis, or MHC induction. Thus the development of the histologic lesions diagnostic of T-cell-mediated kidney transplant rejection are associated with but not mediated by perforin or granzyme A or B. Together with previous graft survival studies, these results indicate that the granule-associated cytotoxic mechanisms of T cells are not the effectors of T-cell-mediated allograft rejection.