Emory Transplant Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Emory Transplant Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Am J Transplant. 2023 Oct;23(10):1511-1525. doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2023.06.006. Epub 2023 Jun 9.
Human leukocyte antigen antibodies are important immunologic mediators of renal allograft loss and are difficult to control. The inability to permanently eliminate donor-specific antibodies (DSA) is partly due to an incomplete understanding of the cellular mechanisms driving alloantibody formation, recurrence, and maintenance. Memory T follicular helper (mTfh) cells rapidly interact with memory B cells upon antigen re-exposure for anamnestic humoral responses, but little is known about Tfh memory in transplantation. We hypothesized that alloreactive mTfh cells form after transplantation and play a critical role in DSA formation following alloantigen re-encounter. To test this hypothesis, we utilized murine skin allograft models to identify and characterize Tfh memory and interrogate its ability to mediate alloantibody responses. We identified alloreactive Tfh memory as a mediator of accelerated humoral alloresponses independent of memory B cells and primary germinal center, or DSA, formation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that mTfh-driven alloantibody formation is susceptible to CD28 costimulation blockade. These findings provide novel insight into a pathologic role for memory Tfh in alloantibody responses and strongly support shifting therapeutic focus from the singular targeting of B cell lineage cells and alloantibodies themselves to multimodal strategies that include inhibition of mTfh cells to treat DSA.
人类白细胞抗原抗体是导致肾移植失败的重要免疫介质,且难以控制。无法永久消除供体特异性抗体(DSA)部分归因于对驱动同种异体抗体形成、复发和维持的细胞机制缺乏完整的认识。记忆滤泡辅助性 T 细胞(mTfh)细胞在抗原再次暴露时可迅速与记忆 B 细胞相互作用,引发记忆性体液反应,但关于移植中的 Tfh 记忆所知甚少。我们假设同种反应性 mTfh 细胞在移植后形成,并在同种抗原再次接触后形成 DSA 中起关键作用。为了验证这一假设,我们利用鼠类皮肤移植模型来鉴定和描述 Tfh 记忆,并研究其介导同种抗体反应的能力。我们发现同种反应性 Tfh 记忆是加速体液同种反应的介导者,独立于记忆 B 细胞和初级生发中心或 DSA 形成。此外,我们证明 mTfh 驱动的同种抗体形成易受 CD28 共刺激阻断的影响。这些发现为记忆性 Tfh 在同种抗体反应中的病理作用提供了新的见解,并强烈支持将治疗重点从单一靶向 B 细胞谱系细胞和同种抗体本身转移到包括抑制 mTfh 细胞在内的多模式策略,以治疗 DSA。