The Open Transplantation Journal
2008, 2 : 9-12Published online 2008 May 14. DOI: 10.2174/1874418400802010009
Publisher ID: TOTRANSJ-2-9
Transplantation of DBA/2 Mouse Corneas in BALB/c Recipients Significantly Delays Graft Rejection Compared with C3H Grafts and Facilitates Studies on Gene Transfer
ABSTRACT
To study the impact of gene transfer in experimental corneal transplantation, grafts should reliably be rejected but after a time span, which allows multiple interventions. We were interested in delaying transplant survival time through MHC-matching of donor and recipient animals and in omitting local dexamethasone treatment, which is laborious and could potentially interfere with the expression of administered DNA. Rejection of DBA/2 (H-2d) corneas by BALB/c (H- 2d) recipients occurred significantly delayed compared with C3H (H-2k) grafts (25.0 ± 5.6 vs. 14.5 ± 4.1 days, p=0.038), and correlated with the expression of allospecific T cell-proliferation and IFN-γ secretion in draining lymph nodes. Gene gun treatment with IL-4/CTLA-4 DNA MIDGETM vectors in the lower lid of recipients significantly prolonged survival of DBA/2 corneas in BALB/c mice. This refined and dexamethasone-free protocol may be advantageous for the development of novel treatment strategies, e.g., local gene transfer, in corneal transplantation.