CD40L stimulation of rat dendritic cells specifically favors the IL-12/IL-10 ratio resulting in a strong T cell stimulatory capacity.

Dendritic cells (DC) play an important role in immune responses and have been studied extensively in human and mouse models. CD40 triggering of DC has a pivotal role in their maturation process, obtaining the unique capacity to induce strong CD4 and CD8 T cell activation. Although rat models are frequently used for the understanding of the underlying mechanism of human diseases, relatively little is known about rat DC. To investigate the effect of CD40 triggering on rat DC, we cloned the rat CD40L gene and generated murine fibroblasts with stable expression (L-rCD40L). DC stimulated by L-rCD40L cells exhibited a strong T cell stimulatory capacity, associated with higher amounts of IFN-gamma as compared to LPS-stimulated DC. Analysis of cytokine production showed that LPS induced both IL-12 and IL-10 production, whereas CD40L induced high amounts of IL-12, but little IL-10 production by rat DC. This implies that the difference found in T cell stimulatory capacity by the stimulated DC is due to the cytokine profile of the DC at the time of T cell activation.

Accelerated antibody-mediated graft loss of rodent pancreatic islets after pretreatment with dexamethasone-treated immature donor dendritic cells.

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic islets of Langerhans transplantation is hampered in its success as a curative treatment of type 1 diabetes by the absence of potent, specific, and nontoxic immunosuppressive drugs. Here, we assessed whether donor bone marrow-derived dexamethasone-treated dendritic cells (dexDCs) could prolong islet allograft survival in a full major histocompatibility complex mismatch rat model. METHODS: Rodent allogeneic islet transplantation was performed from DA rats to Lewis rats and vice versa. Permanently immature dendritic cells were generated from the bone marrow of DA and Lewis rats by treatment with dexamethasone. Animals were either vehicle or donor dexDCs pretreated. Serum was used to monitor glucose, C-peptide, and alloreactive antibodies. RESULTS: The transplantation of DA islets into Lewis recipients showed direct graft failure with reduced numbers of ß-cells when rats were pretreated with donor dexDCs. In the reverse model (Lewis islets into DA recipients), dexDC-treated DA recipients even showed a significantly accelerated rejection of Lewis islets. Immunohistochemical analysis of allograft tissue of dexDC-treated recipients showed a predominant natural killer cell infiltration and a presence of antibody reactivity in the absence of complement deposition. Alloreactive antibodies were solely found in dexDC-treated recipients. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that pretreatment with donor-derived dexDCs induces an antibody-mediated rejection in this islet transplantation rodent model.