The Cross-reactivity of Subsequent Corneal Allografting After Xenocorneal Transplantation Using Decellularized Porcine Lamella Against Allo-antigens in Primates

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the cross-reactivity of subsequent corneal allografting after xenocorneal transplantation using decellularized porcine lamella against allo-antigens in primates and to validate the feasibility of decellularized porcine corneal lamella as a bridge to a subsequent corneal allograft.

Methods: Five Chinese rhesus macaques, which had undergone anterior partial thickness corneal transplantation using hypertonic saline-treated decellularized porcine corneal lamellae in the antecedent experiments, were used as recipients for subsequent full-thickness corneal allografts. To determine whether sensitization of the recipients to xenoantigens led to cross-reactivity against alloantigens, we compared; 1) allogeneic one way mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from the recipients with that of PBMCs from randomly selected rhesus macaques, 2) amount of IgG antibodies which bound to PBMCs of a rhesus panel (5 monkeys) before sensitization with that after sensitization. Graft survival and immunologic profiles including memory T cell subset and donor rhesus-specific antibodies were evaluated.

Results: There was neither hyperacute nor acute rejection within a month post-transplantation in all recipients. Notable changes in all memory T cell subsets were not seen during first one month after transplantation even in two recipients which showed graft failure at 49 days and 35 days post-transplantation, respectively. Alloreactivity on MLR was not different between rhesus recipients with xenocorneal grafts and naïve rhesus monkeys. In either of the recipients, IgG antibodies reactive against PBMCs from the panel were not changed after sensitization by xenoantigens. Moreover, there was no change in donor-rhesus specific antibodies in all recipients.

Conclusions: Decellularized porcine corneal lamella seems not to be cross-reactive against alloantigens and it is likely to be used as a bridge before corneal allograft becomes available.

Keywords: 480 cornea: basic science • 741 transplantation