Dissection of the Role of B Cells in a Murine Model of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury-Augmented Lung Allograft Chronic Rejection

Purpose: Chronic rejection (CR) and allograft fibrosis limit lung transplant outcomes. Current T cell-focused immunosuppression fails to prevent CR, suggesting that other immune cells play a role. Mature B cells, which include innate-like B1 cells and follicular B2 cells, produce antibodies and subserve other functions. We previously showed that CD20 antibody-mediated B cell depletion of recipients prior to and after transplantation attenuated rejection and fibrosis in a minor alloantigen-mismatched orthotopic lung transplant (OLT) model with prolonged ischemia.
Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: Source Type: research