High antigen levels do not preclude B-cell tolerance induction to alpha1,3-Gal via mixed chimerism.

BACKGROUND: Studies of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from wild-type mice or rats to alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase (GalT) knockout mice have demonstrated that induction of mixed chimerism tolerizes not only T cells, but also natural antibody-producing B cells, even across xenogeneic barriers. Given that rodent cells express lower levels of the alphaGal epitope than the more clinically relevant porcine species, the consequences of exposure to cells expressing high levels of alphaGal on the ability to induce B-cell tolerance are unknown. METHODS: The effects on chimerism and anti-alphaGal B-cell tolerance of an i.p. injection of 10(9) porcine RBC were evaluated in GalT knockout mice receiving wild-type allogeneic BMT after non-myeloablative conditioning with T-cell depleting monoclonal antibodies, thymic irradiation, and low-dose total body irradiation. RESULTS: Achievement of mixed chimerism and tolerance of anti-alphaGal-producing B cells was not affected by exposure to high-density alphaGal at the time of BMT. The absence of induced anti-alphaGal or anti-pig antibody responses in conditioned control mice suggested that the B-cell xeno-response to pig is T-cell-dependent. CONCLUSION: High alphaGal density on pig cells might not preclude the ability to achieve tolerance of pre-existing alphaGal-reactive human B cells via induction of mixed chimerism. This strategy has the potential to induce B-cell tolerance to non-alphaGal epitopes, against which natural antibodies have been found in the sera of healthy humans.