Fluorescence in situ hybridization for the Y-chromosome can be used to detect cells of recipient origin in allografted hearts following cardiac transplantation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if fluorescence in situ hybridization for the Y-chromosome can be used to detect cells of recipient origin in allografted hearts following cardiac transplantation. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of coronary arteries from two hearts surgically explanted from heart transplant recipients undergoing retransplantation because of accelerated arteriosclerosis were examined by fluorescence in situ hybridization for the presence of cells containing the Y-chromosome using a biotinylated Y-chromosome cocktail probe. In both cases, the recipients were male and the original donor hearts were obtained from female donors. Hybridization was detected in cells morphologically recognizable as infiltrating lymphocytes, macrophages, and mast cells, establishing that these cells in the donor hearts were of recipient origin. In contrast, hybridization was not detected in cardiac myocytes, in vascular smooth muscle cells, or in the majority (>95%) of endothelial cells, suggesting that these cells were of donor origin. Although hybridization was detected in rare flattened cells lining vascular lumina, these cells did not stain for factor VIII, suggesting that they were, in fact, flattened inflammatory cells and not endothelial cells. These results demonstrate that, when the recipient and donor are of the opposite sex, fluorescence in situ hybridization for the Y-chromosome can be used to detect graft chimerism in transplanted hearts.