Bioimaging of alloantigen-stimulated regulatory T cells in rat vascularized composite allotransplantation.

Background: Tipping the balance toward regulatory T cells (Tregs) through adoptive cell therapy has shown promise to induce transplantation tolerance. Although such strategy has been explored in many mice organ transplantation studies, less knowledge was available in rat systems. Furthermore, the behaviors of the transferred cells have not been well studied in real-time fashion.