Development of CD25- regulatory T cells following heart transplantation: evidence for transfer of long-term survival.

Donor-specific heart allograft acceptance can be induced in the MHC-mismatched LEW.1 W to LEW.1A rat by donor-specific transfusions.

Blood T-cell Vbeta transcriptome in melanoma patients.

Tumor-cells have been shown to elicit MHC-restricted and antigen-specific T-cell responses. In this article, we used a new approach to study T-cell responses in tumor-bearing patients based on a global representation of the Vbeta-transcriptome, making it possible to grade CDR3-length distribution (CDR3-LD) alterations. Six patients with advanced melanoma disease, from whom blood samples were taken before and serially after tyrosinase-A peptide vaccination, were studied.

Human CD4+CD25+ regulatory cells have marked and sustained effects on CD8+ T cell activation.

Amongst the many types of regulatory cells that have been described during the past few years, the spontaneously occurring population that is characterized by co-expression of CD4 and CD25 appears to play a key role in the prevention of autoimmunity and the maintenance of transplantation tolerance. In this study we have examined the ability of CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells to regulate human CD8(+) T cells, and the behavior of CD8(+) T cells following activation in the presence of regulatory CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells. The experiments described here demonstrate that human CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells cause pronounced and sustained inhibition of CD8(+) T cell proliferation in response to polyclonal and allogeneic stimulation.

Tolerance induction in rats, using a combination of anti-CD154 and donor splenocytes, given once on the day of transplantation.

Background: Donor-specific tolerance induction remains an attractive objective that generates much research in the field of transplantation. Unfortunately, most of the protocols available involve pregraft conditioning, making these treatments incompatible with clinical applications.

Methods: LEW.