Umbilical cord blood T lymphocytes are induced to apoptosis after being allo-primed in vitro

• Published in: Bone marrow transplantation (Basingstoke) Vol. 24; no. 11; pp. 1229 - 1233
• Main Authors: HAGIHARA, M, CHARGUI, J, GANSUVD, B, TSUCHIDA, F, SATO, T, HOTTA, T, KATO, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01.12.1999
• Subjects: Adult; AIDS/HIV; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Antigens; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Bone marrow; Bone marrow, stem cells transplantation. Graft versus host reaction; CD4 antigen; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8 antigen; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cord blood; Cytokines; Cytokines - metabolism; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Fetal Blood - cytology; Fetal Blood - immunology; Histocompatibility antigen HLA; Humans; Incompatibility; Interleukin 2; Isoantigens - blood; Isoantigens - pharmacology; Lymphocyte Activation - drug effects; Lymphocyte Activation - immunology; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Medical sciences; Peripheral blood; Phytohemagglutinins - pharmacology; Priming; Risk Factors; Stem cell transplantation; T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; Thymidine - pharmacokinetics; Transfusions. Complications. Transfusion reactions. Cell and gene therapy; Tritium; Umbilical cord; γ-Interferon; Human; Incompatibility; Mixed lymphocyte reaction; Immune response; Stem cell; Hematopoietic cell; In vitro; Blood; Allogeneic system; Alloantigen; Treatment; Cell death; T-Lymphocyte; Umbilical cord; Immunosuppressive agent; Histocompatibility; Apoptosis
• ISSN: 0268-3369; 1476-5365
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.bmt.1702050

In this study, the immunity of umbilical cord blood (UCB) T lymphocytes against allo-antigens was investigated by a standard MLC. No significant difference, between the UCB T cells or peripheral blood (PB) mature T cells, was observed in the primary responses (stimulation index (SI), 51.8 +/- 14.8 and 46.5 +/- 15.0, respectively). In contrast, in the secondary response, the SI obtained with the CD4 T cells from UCB decreased dramatically (16.3 +/- 6.4), while it increased with the CD4 T cells from PB (118.5 +/- 21.7). UCB (CD4 and CD8) T cells separately showed much higher frequencies of apoptosis after a primary allo-priming, compared with PB CD4 and CD8 T cells (CD4, UCB 30.5% vs PB 0.8%; CD8, UCB 32% vs PB 1.3%). The higher apoptotic level of the UCB CD4 T cells was confirmed by a second, ELISA-based, Tunel assay (OD values, UCB CD4 1.93 +/- 0.31 vs PB CD4 0.59 0.9; P < 0.01). Those apoptotic steps were not attributed to the amount of cytokine (IL-2, 4 and IFN-gamma) production, which was found to be similar in both cases. In conclusion, UCB lymphocytes are much more likely to be induced to apoptosis by allo-priming than adult lymphocytes. This supports their possible, successful engraftment across barriers of HLA incompatibility.