THE INFLUENCE OF MHC-COMPATIBLE AND MHC-INCOMPATIBLE ANTIGEN-PRESENTING CELLS ON THE SURVIVAL OF MHC-COMPATIBLE CULTURED MURINE KERATINOCYTE ALLOGRAFTS

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  • 1 October 1989
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 48  (4) , 676-680
Abstract
Our group has shown previously that APC-depleted cultured epidermal keratinocytes show prolonged survival when grafted onto normal MHC-incompatible adult mice. We show here that in vitro culture also improves significantly the survival of MHC-compatible keratinocyte allografts, although these nonrejected grafts are repopulated by host cells identified by their dendritic morphology and phenotype (class II+, leukocyte-common antigen+) as APCs. Reconstitution of cultured grafts, immediately prior to transplantation, with MHC-compatible dendritic cells of either donor or recipient origin, results in graft rejection-thus demonstrating that cultured cells can be rejected by the recipient animal-and suggests that a paucity of APCs in the immediate postgrafting period is responsible for the privilege afforded these grafts.