2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Playing an important role in antibody-mediated rejection after lung transplantation.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24791460
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Thoracic surgery
Research Institution	Kyoto University
Principal Investigator	SATO Masaaki 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (00623109)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	肺移植 / 抗ドナー特異抗体 / リンパ組織新生 / 抗体関連拒絶 / 慢性拒絶
Research Abstract	We used an intrapulmonary tracheal transplant model as an animal model of chronic rejection after lung transplantation and demonstrated intrapulmonary lymphoid neogenesis in association with rejection and then demonstrated production of donor-specific antibodies in the supernatant of cultured lung tissue recovered from recipient rat lungs after tracheal transplantation that accompanied lymphoid neogenesis. This phenomenon was observed only after allograft transplantation, not isograft transplantation. We also demonstrated production of donor-specific antibodies in the recipient serum and the spleen but only temporarily (weeks), while production of donor-specific antibodies in the lung persisted at least a few months. Local immune responses mediated by lymphoid neogenesis and consequent antibody production, which cannot be detected in the serum, is suggested to play an important role in antibody-mediated rejection after lung transplantation.