B Cell Depletion With an Anti-CD20 Antibody Enhances Alloreactive Memory T Cell Responses After Transplantation.

Alloreactive memory T cells mediate accelerated allograft rejection and transplant tolerance resistance. Recent studies have shown that B cell deficient-μMT mice fail to mount donor-specific memory T cell responses after transplantation. At the same time, other studies showed that pretransplant B cell depletion using rituximab (IgG1 anti-CD20 mAb) combined with cyclosporine A promoted the survival of islet allografts in monkeys.

Diphtheria toxin-based recombinant murine IL-2 fusion toxin for depleting murine regulatory T cells in vivo.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subpopulation of CD4(+) T cells which suppress immune responses of effector cells and are known to play a very important role in protection against autoimmune disease development, induction of transplantation tolerance and suppression of effective immune response against tumor cells. An effective in vivo Treg depletion agent would facilitate Treg-associated studies across many research areas. In this study, we have developed diphtheria toxin-based monovalent and bivalent murine IL-2 fusion toxins for depleting murine IL-2 receptor positive cells including CD25(+) Treg in vivo.