Abstract
Even when successfully induced, immunological tolerance to solid organs remains vulnerable to inflammatory insults, which can trigger rejection. In a mouse model of cardiac allograft tolerance in which infection with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) precipitates rejection of previously accepted grafts, we showed that recipient CD4+ TCR75 cells reactive to a donor MHC class I–derived peptide become hypofunctional if the allograft is accepted for more than 3 weeks. Paradoxically, infection-induced transplant rejection was not associated with transcriptional or functional reinvigoration of TCR75 cells. We hypothesized that there is heterogeneity in the level of dysfunction of different allospecific T cells, depending on duration of their cognate antigen expression. Unlike CD4+ TCR75 cells, CD4+ TEa cells specific for a peptide derived from donor MHC class II, an alloantigen whose expression declines after transplantation but remains inducible in settings of inflammation, retained function in tolerant mice and expanded during Lm-induced rejection. Repeated injections of alloantigens drove hypofunction in TEa cells and rendered grafts resistant to Lm-dependent rejection. Our results uncover a functional heterogeneity in allospecific T cells of distinct specificities after tolerance induction and reveal a strategy to defunctionalize a greater repertoire of allospecific T cells, thereby mitigating a critical vulnerability of tolerance.
Authors
Christine M. McIntosh, Jennifer B. Allocco, Peter Wang, Michelle L. McKeague, Alexandra Cassano, Ying Wang, Stephen Z. Xie, Grace Hynes, Ricardo Mora-Cartín, Domenic Abbondanza, Luqiu Chen, Husain Sattar, Dengping Yin, Zheng J. Zhang, Anita S. Chong, Maria-Luisa Alegre
Figure 2
The presentation of donor MHCII–derived peptide declines during tolerance.
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)