Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Article has an altmetric score of 6

See more details

Referenced in 1 patents
Referenced in 1 Wikipedia pages
50 readers on Mendeley
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article (301)

Advertisement

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI119173

CD95 ligand (FasL)-induced apoptosis is necessary for corneal allograft survival.

P M Stuart, T S Griffith, N Usui, J Pepose, X Yu, and T A Ferguson

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Stuart, P. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Griffith, T. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Usui, N. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Pepose, J. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Yu, X. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.

Find articles by Ferguson, T. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published February 1, 1997 - More info

Published in Volume 99, Issue 3 on February 1, 1997
J Clin Invest. 1997;99(3):396–402. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI119173.
© 1997 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published February 1, 1997 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

Although anatomical barriers and soluble mediators have been implicated in immune privilege, it appears that the apoptotic cell death of Fas+ cells by tissue-associated CD95 ligand (Fas ligand, FasL) is an important component. One clinical example of the function of an immune privileged site is the success of human corneal transplants, where a very high percentage of transplants accept without tissue matching or immunosuppressive therapy. Since the mouse cornea expresses abundant Fas ligand and immune privilege has been implicated in the success of these transplants, we examined the role of FasL in corneal transplantation. Our results show that human corneas express functional FasL capable of killing Fas+ lymphoid cells in an in vitro culture system. Using a mouse model for corneal allograft transplantation, FasL+ orthografts were accepted at a rate of 45%, whereas FasL- grafts, or normal grafts transplanted to Fas- mice, were rejected 100% of the time. Histological analysis found that FasL+ grafts contained apoptotic mononuclear cells indicating the induction of apoptosis by the graft, while rejecting FasL- corneas contained numerous inflammatory cells without associated apoptosis. Taken together our results demonstrate that FasL expression on the cornea is a major factor in corneal allograft survival and, thus, we provide an explanation for one of the most successful tissue transplants performed in humans.

Version history
  • Version 1 (February 1, 1997): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

Article has an altmetric score of 6
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article (301)

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts

Referenced in 1 patents
Referenced in 1 Wikipedia pages
50 readers on Mendeley
See more details