Induction of stable chimerism and transplantation tolerance to rat islet and heart allografts by ultraviolet-B modulation of bone marrow cells.

Ultraviolet-B irradiation (UV-B) (700 J/m2) of BM cells prior to transplantation into lethally gamma-irradiated (1050 rads) allogeneic rats prevents the development of GVHD and results in stable chimerism. This study was developed to determine if UV-B modulation of BMT is useful for preconditioning recipients for the induction of tolerance to donor islets and heart allografts. Lethally irradiated Lewis rats that received UV-B irradiated (700 J/m2) WF BMT (10(8) BM cells) demonstrated stable chimerism without any evidence of GVHD. The stable Lewis chimeras were made diabetic with streptozotocin (STZ) at 28-35 days after BMT and subdivided into 3 experimental groups that received 1000-1200 islets from WF, Lewis, or BN (third-party), respectively. The results showed that group I diabetic Lewis chimeras accepted permanently (greater than 300 days) BM donor WF islets and became normoglycemic. When 3 of 6 Lewis chimeras transplanted with WF islets were rechallenged with WF hearts 60 days after islet grafts, they accepted both islets and cardiac allografts permanently (greater than 240 days). Similarly, the remaining 3 animals accepted Lewis cardiac allografts permanently, thus indicating tolerance to both donor and recipient alloantigens. Group II diabetic chimeras accepted permanently (greater than 300 days) recipient (Lewis) islets. In contrast, group III chimeras rejected acutely (7-8 days) third-party (BN) islets. However, when these animals that rejected BN islets and again became diabetic were retransplanted with BM donor-type (WF) islets, they became permanently normoglycemic (greater than 200 days). This finding emphasizes the specificity of the induction of tolerance in this model and the apparent lack of organ-specific sensitization. To define the underlying mechanism of tolerance, in vivo adoptive transfer of 10(8) spleen cells to naive Lewis or WF recipients, obtained from tolerant Lewis chimeras carrying donor islets and heart allografts, showed no prolongation of cardiac allografts in the unmodified syngeneic hosts, thus questioning the role of suppressor mechanisms in the tolerant rats. Furthermore, cells from the tolerant chimeras that showed no mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) response to Lewis or; WF alloantigens failed to suppress anti-Lewis and anti-WF MLR-response in coculture MLR. These results suggest that tolerance to donor alloantigens in the UV-B BMT model is most likely due to selective elimination of anti-BM donor helper or effector cell precursors (clonal deletion) rather than induction of suppressor cell activity. This study demonstrates that this relatively simple and effective approach to modulation of T cells in BM treatment may be potentially useful in the induction of tolerance to donor organs.