Ba. Yard et al., RECOGNITION OF A TISSUE-SPECIFIC POLYMORPHISM BY GRAFT INFILTRATING T-CELL CLONES ISOLATED FROM A RENAL-ALLOGRAFT WITH ACUTE REJECTION, Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation, 9(7), 1994, pp. 805-810
Acute interstitial rejection is an important clinical problem after ca
daver kidney transplantation. Recently we have reported that six of 17
graft-infiltrating cell (GIC) lines isolated from kidneys undergoing
such rejection episodes recognize graft-derived proximal tubular cells
but not lymphoid cells from the same donor. In this study we characte
rized the specificity of one such GIC line in more detail. From this T
-cell line, 18 cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) clones were isolated. Four of th
ese were also cytotoxic against donor lymphoid cells. Nine tissue-spec
ific clones were selected for further analysis. They all contained CD8
+ and TCR alpha/beta+ cells and cytotoxicity by these cells was class
I restricted. Only proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTEC) expressing
HLA-A31 (an antigen present in the donor but absent in the recipient)
were recognized by all clones. There were, however, three clones that
did not lyse all HLA-A31+ PTEC lines, demonstrating recognition of an
HLA-A31 tissue-associated polymorphism. Thus during rejection episode
s after renal transplantation GIC may recognize various tissue-derived
peptides bound to a mismatched HLA molecule on the cell surface of re
nal parenchymal cells. These GIC are likely to contribute to the obser
ved destruction of tubuli during episodes of acute rejection after kid
ney transplantation.