Bone Grafts Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Bone Grafts, including details on spine fusion, surgery, procedure, risks. | ||||||||
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Tolerance induction by lentiviral gene therapy with a nonmyeloablative regimen.Mitsuhashi N, Fischer-Lougheed J, Shulkin I, Kleihauer A, Kohn DB, Weinberg KI, Starnes VA, Kearns-Jonker M Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. Antibodies (Abs) directed at the Gal alpha1,3Gal beta1,4GlcNAc-R (alphaGal) carbohydrate epitope initiate xenograft rejection. Previously, we have shown that bone marrow transplantation (BMT) with lentivirus-mediated gene transfer of porcine alpha1,3 galactosyltransferase (GalT) is able to induce tolerance to alphaGal-expressing heart grafts following a lethal dose of irradiation. Here we show the first demonstration of permanent survival of alphaGal+ hearts following transplantation with autologous, lentivirus-transduced BM using a nonmyeloablative regimen. Autologous BM from GalT knockout (GalT-/-) mice was transduced with a lentiviral vector expressing porcine GalT and transplanted into sublethally irradiated (3 Gy) GalT-/- mice. Chimerism in the peripheral blood cells (PBCs) remained low but was higher in the BM, especially within the stromal cell population. Mice reconstituted with GalT did not produce anti-alphaGal Abs over time. We immunized these mice with alphaGal-expressing cells and assessed humoral immune responses. Anti-alphaGal xenoantibodies were not produced in mice reconstituted with GalT, but normal Ab responses to other xenoantigens were detected. Mice reconstituted with GalT accepted alphaGal+ heart grafts over 100 days. Transduction with lentiviral vectors results in chimerism at levels sufficient to induce long-term tolerance under nonmyeloablative conditions. Published 6 March 2006 in Blood, 107(6): 2286-93.
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