Evaluation of Donor-Specific Transfusion Sources: Unique Failure of Bone Marrow Cells to Induce Prolonged Skin Allograft Survival with Anti-CD154 Monoclonal Antibody

Abstract

Donor-specific transfusions of splenocytes, thymocytes, lymph node cells, or buffy coat cells can prolong skin allograft survival in recipients treated with costimulation blockade. Bone marrow cells fail to serve this function, in part by failing to delete host alloreactive CD8(+) T cells, and they may actively interfere with the function of a spleen cell DST. The data suggest that transplantation tolerance induction protocols that incorporate bone marrow cells to serve as a DST may not be effective.