Mechanism of Graft Damage Caused by NTPDase1-activated Macrophages in Acute Antibody-Mediated Rejection.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the effect and mechanism of macrophage activation and graft damage caused by nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase 1 (NTPDase1) in acute antibody-mediated rejection (AMR).

METHODS

Acute AMR was induced in different skin-grafted nude mouse models with wild-type NTPDase1 expression, transgene-enhanced NTPDase1 expression, or NTPDase1 gene knockout. Several methods (eg, real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction, high-performance liquid chromatography [HPLC], immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and luciferin/luciferase assays) were used to study (at the histologic and molecular levels) the extracellular adenosine diphosphate (ADP) concentration, macrophage proliferation, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen expression on the surface of macrophages, B-cell activating factor (BAFF) expression in the peripheral blood serum, and the total number of SmIg-positive B cells during acute AMR. The relative activity of NTPDase1 in B cells and epithelial cells, pathologic changes, and the incidence of positive C4d deposition around the capillaries of skin grafts on the different nude mice were studied.

RESULTS

Macrophages proliferated significantly when acute AMR occurred. The higher the NTPDase1 expression level, the lower the extracellular ADP concentration, the expression of MHC class II antigens on the surface of macrophages, the expression of BAFF in the peripheral blood serum, and the total number of SmIg-positive B cells, indicating negative correlations. The relative activity of NTPDase1 in B cells and epithelial cells of the skin graft was different among the different mice. The higher the NTPDase1 expression level, the lower the degree of pathologic damage to the skin graft.

CONCLUSIONS

Imbalance in extracellular ADP degradation by NTPDase1 may promote macrophage activation, and activated macrophages may be an important cause of graft damage.