Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol., Vol 14, No. 4, Apr 1996, 341-347.
Long-term antibody production in canine lung allografts: implications in pulmonary immunity and asthma
DE Bice, AJ Williams and BA Muggenburg
Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA.
Lung transplant recipients can become asthmatic if they receive donor lungs
from asthmatics. The maintenance of sensitivity in the lung allograft for
inhaled allergens supports the concept that the mechanisms responsible for
asthma are localized in the lungs, with a minimal systemic component.
Pulmonary immunity to inhaled allergens is one mechanism which could be
localized to the lung that would play a pivotal role in asthma. For
example, the continued production of antibody to inhaled allergens in a
human lung allograft could cause asthmatic responsiveness in the recipient.
In this study, we tested the hypothesis that pulmonary immune cells
continue to produce antibody in a canine allograft lung for relatively long
times after transplantation. This was accomplished by immunizing four dogs
by instillation of keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) into a single lung lobe.
After two challenges, the immunized lung from each dog was transplanted
into a nonimmune recipient. Immune evaluations of recipients showed that
anti-KLH antibody continued to be produced only in the donor lung for as
long as 320 days after transplantation. Data from this study suggest that
(1) immune cells in the lung can function independently from systemic
immunity, (2) antibody production in the lung makes a significant
contribution to blood antibody levels, and (3) immune cells in donor lungs
can continue to produce antibody for relatively long times after
transplantation. Therefore, immune cells in donor lungs from asthmatics
could continue to produce antibody to allergens after transplantation, and
this locally produced antibody may be responsible for the asthmatic
responses observed in the recipients.
