Ovalbumin serves as a neo-transplantation antigen in retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Purpose: Our long-term goal is to determine the optimal methods for inducing allograft tolerance to facilitate transplantation of retinal pigment epithelial cells or stem cells for the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases. These goals have been hampered by the extreme complexity of allograft rejection and the heterogeneity of responding T cells. The current studies were undertaken to develop a simplified transplant model for studying rejection and tolerance in the unique environment of the eye.

Genetic tagging shows increased frequency and longevity of antigen-presenting, skin-derived dendritic cells in vivo.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key regulators of immune responses that activate naive antigen-specific T lymphocytes. In draining lymph nodes, antigen-bearing DCs are reported to be rare and short-lived. How such small numbers of short-lived DCs can activate rare antigen-specific T cells is unclear.

Interleukin-12-induced cytotoxicity against syngeneic B cell lymphomas of SJL/J mice.

The B cell lymphomas (RCS) that develop spontaneously in 90% of aging SJL/J mice stimulate syngeneic CD4+ Vbeta16+ Th2 cells to produce cytokines, such as IL-4 and IL-5, which promote lymphoma growth. Although RCS cells express a unique superantigen (vSAg) encoded by an endogenous MMTV (Mtv-29) provirus that also elicits IFN-gamma production from naïve syngeneic lymphoid cells, there is no development of RCS-specific cytotoxicity. However, addition of IL-12 to co-cultures of SJL spleen and irradiated (gamma-)RCS cells resulted in the appearance of effector cells that killed RCS and NK-susceptible target cells.