FcR blocking activity in serum of actively enhanced rat renal allograft recipients due to IgG anti-class II MHC alloantibody

In some rat strain combinations, pre-operative donor-specific blood transfusion produces long-term renal allograft survival, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study has examined whether Fc receptor (FcR)-blocking activity could be detected in the serum of unmodified PVG strain recipients bearing a rejecting renal allograft and in recipients bearing an actively enhanced graft following pre-operative blood transfusion. Serum harvested on Day 5 from actively enhanced PVG recipients of DA rat renal allografts was shown to specifically inhibit erythrocyte-antibody (EA) rosette formation with donor strain, but not third-party, splenocytes, while the levels of EA rosette inhibition (EAI) in Day 5 serum from rejecting rats remained markedly lower. This FcR-blocking activity was present in enhanced serum fractions, prepared by discontinuous density gradient centrifugation, which corresponded to the 7 S peak. Purified IgG prepared from enhanced serum was also found to inhibit EA rosette formation with donor splenocytes, and absorption of the IgG preparations with donor strain erythrocytes failed to abrogate EA rosette inhibition. Further experiments, in which absorbed IgG from enhanced animals was tested for FcR blocking activity against splenocytes of defined major histocompatability complex (MHC) subregion specificities, established that FcR-blocking activity was mediated by IgG alloantibodies directed against donor MHC class II antigens. Whether the presence of such antibodies early after transplantation contributes to the beneficial effect of blood transfusion on graft survival remains to be determined.