Restoration of immunogenicity to passenger cell-depleted kidney allografts by the addition of donor strain dendritic cells.

Abstract

The immunogenicity of long-surviving, enhanced (AS .times. AUG)F1 rat renal allografts retransplanted into secondary AS recipients was restored by the injection of small numbers of donor strain dendritic cells derived from afferent lymph. Whereas 1 .times. 104 to 5 .times. 104 dendritic cells were able to trigger an acute rejection response, neither the passenger volume of donor strain blood nor 5 .times. 106 T or B lymphocytes were able to do so, thereby demonstrating more than a 100-fold difference in immunogenic potency. Evidently, intrarenal dendritic cells provide the major immunogenic stimulus of a kidney allograft and the antigenic strength of major histocompatibility complex-incompatible tissue correlates with the content of donor strain dendritic cells. Antigens of the major histocompatibility complex apparently behave like conventional antigens unless they are on the surface of allogeneic dendritic cells.