The Open Transplantation Journal

2008, 2 : 9-12
Published 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

R. Ignatius , E.-P. Zhang , F. Schulte , M. Schroff , U. Rüschendorf , A. Müller , B. Wittig and F. Hoffmann
Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, Department of Infection Immunology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 27, 12203 Berlin, Germany.

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.