APOPTOSIS OF ACINAR-CELLS IN PANCREAS ALLOGRAFT-REJECTION

Background Recently it has been recognized that apoptosis of target ce lls may occur during liver and kidney allograft rejection and is proba bly induced by infiltrating cells. Pancreas rejection is also characte rized by a cellular infiltrate, however, the occurrence of apoptosis h as not been investigated. We assessed whether pancreas rejection was a ssociated with apoptosis of target cells and an influx of granzyme B ( GrB)-positive or CD68-positive cells. Methods. Eighteen pancreas biops ies (10 of 18 with rejection) from 15 patients with a pancreas-kidney transplantation were stained with the in situ end-labeling method for apoptosis, and for CD3, GrB, and CD68. Results. Significantly more apo ptotic acinar cells were found in biopsies with rejection when compare d with biopsies without rejection. No difference was observed between the groups for GrB(+) or CD68(+) cells. Conclusion. We conclude that p ancreas rejection is associated with apoptosis of acinar cells, but no t with an increased influx of GrB(+) cells or macrophages.