TY - JOUR
T1 - Effacing of the T cell compartment by cardiac transplantation in infancy
AU - Ogle, Brenda M.
AU - West, Lori J.
AU - Driscoll, David J.
AU - Strome, Scott E.
AU - Razonable, Raymund R.
AU - Paya, Carlos V.
AU - Cascalho, Marilia
AU - Platt, Jeffrey L.
PY - 2006/2/1
Y1 - 2006/2/1
N2 - For cardiac transplantation in infants, T cells are depleted and the thymus is removed. These manipulations should cause profound defects in the T cell compartment. To test this concept, 20 subjects who underwent cardiac transplantation in infancy and healthy age-matched subjects were studied. The number of T cells in the blood was nearly normal in all subjects 1-10 years after surgery. However, newly generated T cells were undetectable in 10 recipients and 10-fold less than controls in 10, suggesting absence of thymic function. TCRβ chain diversity, measured by a novel technique, was ∼100-fold lower than controls. T cell function, deduced from levels of human herpesvirus 7 and response to hepatitis B immunization, were notably impaired. Yet cardiac transplant recipients were generally free of opportunistic infections. Our findings demonstrate a novel approach to measuring lymphocyte diversity and suggest that understanding how these subjects resist infection could yield important insights into immune fitness.
AB - For cardiac transplantation in infants, T cells are depleted and the thymus is removed. These manipulations should cause profound defects in the T cell compartment. To test this concept, 20 subjects who underwent cardiac transplantation in infancy and healthy age-matched subjects were studied. The number of T cells in the blood was nearly normal in all subjects 1-10 years after surgery. However, newly generated T cells were undetectable in 10 recipients and 10-fold less than controls in 10, suggesting absence of thymic function. TCRβ chain diversity, measured by a novel technique, was ∼100-fold lower than controls. T cell function, deduced from levels of human herpesvirus 7 and response to hepatitis B immunization, were notably impaired. Yet cardiac transplant recipients were generally free of opportunistic infections. Our findings demonstrate a novel approach to measuring lymphocyte diversity and suggest that understanding how these subjects resist infection could yield important insights into immune fitness.
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U2 - 10.4049/jimmunol.176.3.1962
DO - 10.4049/jimmunol.176.3.1962
M3 - Article
C2 - 16424228
AN - SCOPUS:31144469175
SN - 0022-1767
VL - 176
SP - 1962
EP - 1967
JO - Journal of Immunology
JF - Journal of Immunology
IS - 3
ER -