Vascular endothelial cell apoptosis induced by anti-donor non-MHC antibodies: a possible injury pathway contributing to chronic allograft rejection.

Background: Non-major histocompatibility complex (non-MHC) alloantibodies may play a pathogenic role in chronic rejection but remain poorly characterized.

Methods: The kinetics of alloantibody production and the mechanism by which non-MHC alloantibodies cause graft injury were investigated in a Lewis-to-Fischer 344 (LEW-to-F344) rat model of cardiac transplantation.

Results: Flow cytometry detected that all the F344 recipients of LEW allografts produced anti-donor immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies reactive with LEW lymphocytes and endothelial cells.