Academic Editor: Graham Pawelec
Background: A search for efficient graft rejection modulation
techniques for the promotion of durable engraftment remains to be a matter of
close study all over the world. Despite the variety of immunosuppressive drugs,
the schemes currently used show a lack of selectivity and have a number of side
effects. Here we investigated an approach for the induction of antigen-specific
tolerance in a human “stimulator-responder” model in vitro, using
dendritic cells (DCs) transfected with designed DNA constructs encoding the
stimulator’s major histocompatibility complex (MHC) epitopes. Methods:
The object of the study is peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 10
healthy donors. To induce antigen-specific tolerance, personalized DNA constructs
were created for five responder–stimulator pairs, based on the sequences of
donors’ and recipients’ MHCs. DNA sequencing was performed to select epitopes for
incorporation into genetic constructs. A mixed lymphocyte culture assay was used
(i) to assess the proliferative response in both directions for all possible
stimulator–responder pairs (90 reactions) and (ii) to assess the tolerogenic
properties of the generated transfected DCs (5 reactions). Results:
A significant increase in the amounts of FoxP3