Abstract
Purpose :
Rejection rate of high-risk corneal allografts is about 60%-90% and the mechanism of allografts rejection is not well understood. This study was conducted to explore the potential involvement of RORγt + Foxp3+T helper cells in low- and high-risk corneal allograft rejection at early stages.
Methods :
Low- and High-risk corneal transplantation was performed between BALB/c (recipient) and C57BL/6 (donor) mice. At day 7 after operation, single-cell preparations of corneal allografts were harvested for FACS analyses of RORγt + Foxp3+T helper, Treg and Th17 subsets between low-risk and high-risk model. Corneal allografts were harvested for real-time PCR of cytokines expression. Fluorescence microscopy of corneas for RORγt and Foxp3 expression was also performed.
Results :
T helper cells that Co-express RORγt and Foxp3 infiltrated and occupied a large proportion in Corneal allograft at early stage. Additionally, the proportion of RORγt+Foxp3+ T cells enhanced significantly in high-risk corneal allografts compared with low-risk ones(89.37±1.66% vs 81.18±3.25%, P=0.001). The Treg-Th17 axis shift toward the increase of Th17 populations (2.49±0.27% vs 3.60±0.16%, p=0.000) and decrease of Treg (9.18±0.49% vs 3.76±0.52%, p=0.000). Moreover, inflammatory factors play an important role in these pathological processes.
Conclusions :
Increased numbers of RORγt + Foxp3+T cells and imbalance of Treg-Th17 axis in high-risk allografts indicates potential immunopathogenesis of high-risk corneal graft rejection at early stage.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.