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Biomedical subjects

C B Carpenter

Publications and source records attributed to C B Carpenter.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

The indirect pathway of allorecognition. The occurrence of self-restricted T cell recognition of allo-MHC peptides early in acute renal allograft rejection and its inhibition by conventional immunosuppression.

There is evidence that T cells can "directly" recognize intact allo-MHC molecules on the surface of allogeneic stimulator or target cells, and/or "indirectly" recognize processed allo-MHC peptides presented by self antigen-presenting cells (APCs). We and others have recently demonstrated that in vivo-primed rat CD4+ T cells recognize and proliferate to specific polymorphic amino acid sequences when presented as MHC allopeptides by self APCs. Studies on the mechanisms of indirect T cell recognition of alloantigen are now reported. First, we studied the immunogenicity of 4 synthetic polymorphic class II MHC allopeptides representing full-length sequences of the hypervariable domains of RT1.Du beta (DR or I-E-like) in several responder strains: LEW (RT1(l)), ACI (RT1a), BUF (RT1b), BN (RT1n), and control syngeneic WF (RT1u) strains. Immunogenicity of the individual 25mer allopeptides varied in the different responder strains, indicating that self-restricted T cell recognition of allo-MHC peptides is determined not only by polymorphisms, but also by the responder MHC genotype. Self-restricted CD4+ T cell recognition of processed allo-MHC peptides has been shown to occur during acute skin and cardiac allograft rejection, and there is evidence that this pathway may play an important role in initiating and amplifying the immune response to allografts. T cells from LEW animals primed in vivo by WF (RT1u) vascularized renal allografts were capable of proliferating to the RT1.Du beta peptides as early as 3 days postengraftment, when presented by self APCs. We then tested the effects of various immunosuppressive drugs on self-restricted primed T cell proliferative response to an immunogenic MHC allopeptide in vitro. Methylprednisolone, cyclosporine, and FK506 inhibited the proliferative response of RT1.Du beta 2-primed LEW T cells in a dose-dependent fashion. In addition, a single injection of cyclosporine (25 mg/kg i.m.) to LEW recipients of WF renal allografts on the day of transplantation completely abolished the proliferative response of in vivo-primed T cells to RT1.Du beta 2, indicating the susceptibility of the indirect pathway of allorecognition to conventional immunosuppressive drugs.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Delayed omega-3 fatty acid supplements in renal transplantation. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

An earlier reported trial suggests that omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil supplements at 6 g/day with administration commencing at the time of engraftment may reduce acute CsA renal dysfunction. When started at the time of renal transplant, there are improvements in renal hemodynamics and blood pressure, and a decrease in rejection episodes. To examine the effect of later introduction of omega-3 fatty acids, 133 cadaver renal transplant recipients received CsA, prednisone, and AZA for 16 weeks (period 1). If patients were stable without rejection or infection activity, they were randomized to 9 g of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), 18 g of EPA, 9 g of corn oil, or 18 g of corn oil in 1-g capsules as supplements. Glomerular filtration rate, renal blood flow, number of rejection episodes, blood pressure, and episodes of CsA nephrotoxicity were followed for 26 weeks in a double-blind manner (period 2). Ninety patients were evaluable and completed the protocol. There were 50 corn oil placebo patients, 22 low dose EPA patients, and 18 high dose EPA patients. In period 1, there were 27 rejection episodes in 21 patients without differences among subsequent treatment groups. In period 2, there were 13 rejection episodes in 4 patients. No patient with an EPA level in plasma statistically higher than placebo had a rejection episode. All allografts functioned for the entire 6 months with none lost to rejection. All 5 episodes of acute CsA nephrotoxicity occurred in placebo-treated patients without differences in whole blood CsA among toxic patients, other placebo patients, and EPA-treated recipients. At the end of the study, there were no differences in glomerular filtration rate, renal blood flow, or creatinine clearance among groups. Diastolic blood pressure fell by 9 mmHg during period 2 in high dose fish oil recipients and by 10 mmHg in low dose fish oil recipients (P < 0.05), while it rose by 2 mmHg in placebo patients. No serious adverse effects of EPA supplements were noted, although compliance based on plasma EPA was erratic. Based on our experience and that in the literature, administration of omega-3 fatty acids for purposes of kidney protection would seem to be most useful when started early after surgery. Late administration in our study was associated with minor clinical benefits.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1995

Blocking cell microtubule assembly inhibits the alloimmune response in vitro and prolongs renal allograft survival by inhibition of Th1 and sparing of Th2 cell function in vivo.

Colchicine inhibits cell microtubule assembly by binding to and preventing the polymerization of tubulin monomers. Although there are data to indicate that colchicine inhibits a variety of cell-mediated immune responses, the effects and mechanisms of inhibiting cell microtubule assembly on the alloimmune response have not been thoroughly investigated. It has recently been shown that colchicine prevents acute rejection and promotes the long-term survival of rat renal allografts. In this study, the effects and mechanisms of inhibiting cell microtubule assembly by colchicine on the alloimmune response in vitro and in vivo were examined. First, the effects of colchicine on T lymphocyte response to alloantigen in vitro were tested. In the standard one-way mixed lymphocyte response (MLR), responder Lewis rat lymph node cells were cultured with irradiated Brown-Norway stimulators. Colchicine inhibited the MLR in a dose-dependent manner, with 100% inhibition at a concentration of 25 ng/mL (6.25 x 10(-8) M) and 50% inhibition at a concentration of approximately 5 to 10 ng/mL. Colchicine also inhibited the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes as well as cytotoxic T cell effector function in vitro in a dose-dependent fashion. Second, detailed immunohistologic studies of renal allografts harvested from unmodified control (acutely rejecting) and colchicine-treated rats (Day 15 or 30) were performed. These studies showed that grafts from colchicine-treated animals had significantly fewer mononuclear cell infiltrates and less edema, and moderately decreased deposition of immunoglobulin M, C3, and fibrin, as compared with acutely rejecting control grafts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1995

The thymic way to transplantation tolerance.

Within the past three decades, extensive research has been carried out with the aim to prevent graft rejection by minimizing the side effects related to the use of immunosuppressants. The major goal in transplantation research remains the development of strategies that would allow one to achieve a state of donor-specific unresponsiveness in order to promote a condition of true tolerance without the need of immunosuppressants. Recent evidence has been provided that this is a pursuing goal, at least in experimental animals. The thymus plays the major role in the development of self-tolerance, and initial work in the late 1960s indicated that the thymus also plays a critical role in the induction of acquired tolerance to exogenous antigens. Recently, the interest in acquired thymic tolerance has been renewed by the observation that, in the rat, the thymus is an immunologically privileged site in which isolated pancreatic islets can be engrafted and survive indefinitely. Moreover, intrathymic injection of the islets induced donor-specific unresponsiveness, which allowed survival of a second donor-strain islet cell allograft transplanted into an extrathymic site. These findings on cellular allografts have been extended to vascularized organ allografts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Long-term failure of renal transplants: adding insult to injury.

Although transplantation is the preferred choice for many end-stage renal disease patients, results are far from perfect and the demand for organs exceeds the available supply. After high initial success rates at one year, the subsequent course of randomly HLA matched cadaveric organs is an exponential loss of functioning grafts, with a half-life of seven to eight years. This process is one of progressive sclerosis and fibrosis which may result from the inability of available immunosuppressive agents to control a chronic type of rejection, or it may be the result of early immunological injury with progressive vascular injury occurring as a result of hemodynamically induced injuries, as seen in renal ablation animal models. Matching for HLA antigens has a major impact on this process, with half-lives of 20 years with HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-DR matched cadaver donors. Various clinical risk factors, including the relative size of the donor kidney, ischemic injuries, and drug toxicities all predispose to a more rapid rate of chronic graft loss. These are likely to be additive to the damaging effects of rejection activity, with a final pathway of glomerulovascular sclerosis initiated when a critically low level of functioning nephrons is reached.

Graft Rejection↗
PubMed1994

Mechanisms of acquired thymic unresponsiveness to renal allografts. Thymic recognition of immunodominant allo-MHC peptides induces peripheral T cell anergy.

We have recently shown that a single intrathymic injection of synthetic 25mer peptides, representing full sequences of the hypervariable domain of RT1.BuB (4 peptides) and RT1.Du beta (4 peptides) WF class II MHC molecules, 48 hr before transplantation induces donor-specific unresponsiveness to WF rat renal allografts in adult LEW recipients. The induction of unresponsiveness was abrogated by the recipient's thymectomy within the first week after intrathymic injection. Peripheral T cells of long-term survivors exhibited antigen-specific hyporesponsiveness in the LEW x WF MLR. Studies on the mechanisms of induction of acquired thymic unresponsiveness to alloantigen in vivo and in vitro are now reported. First, since we have previously demonstrated in LEW responders that only 4 of the 8 synthetic 25mer peptides, 2 RT1.Du beta and 2 RT1.Bu beta sequences, were immunogenic in vitro and in vivo, we compared the tolerogenicity of the immunogenic versus the nonimmunogenic peptides. While LEW rats intrathymically injected with the nonimmunogenic peptides acutely rejected their renal allografts within 6-10 days, animals injected with the immunogenic peptides did not reject their grafts and are surviving > 100 days with normal allograft function. In vitro studies established that peripheral T cells from intrathymically tolerized animals exhibited antigen-specific hyporesponsiveness in the LEW x WF MLR starting as early as 1 week posttransplant. Immunohistological evaluation of renal allografts from intrathymically tolerized animals 1 week postengraftment showed marked reduction in mononuclear cell infiltrates with no evidence of tubulitis, and marked reduction in intragraft staining for activation and inflammatory cytokines and alloantibodies, as compared with acutely rejecting controls. Systemic administration of 1000 U of rIL-2 daily for 5 days starting on the day of transplantation abrogated the tolerogenic effect of intrathymic MHC allopeptides. Injection of 100 micrograms of a single immunogenic peptide, RT1.Du beta 2 (residues 20-44), into the thymus of responder LEW rats 48 hrs before immunization with RT1.Du beta 2 effected significant reduction of in vitro proliferation of primed lymphocytes to RT1.Du beta 2, an effect that was abrogated by addition of rIL-2 in vitro. In contrast, thymectomy beyond 2 weeks and administration of rIL-2 at 4-6 weeks after transplantation failed to cause rejection. These observations indicate that thymic recognition of immunodominant class II MHC allopeptides leads to peripheral T cell anergy that mediates the induction phase of systemic unresponsiveness to renal allografts. The maintenance phase appears to be mediated by dense anergy or clonal deletion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Mechanisms of allo-recognition. Recognition by in vivo-primed T cells of specific major histocompatibility complex polymorphisms presented as peptides by responder antigen-presenting cells.

There is evidence of two pathways of allorecognition, the direct pathway where T cells recognize intact allo-MHC molecules on the surface of target cells, and the indirect pathway where T cells recognize processed allo-MHC presented by self antigen-presenting cells. We used synthetic class II MHC allopeptides to study the cellular mechanisms of the indirect allorecognition pathway and its potential role in vascularized allograft rejection. LEW (RT1l) rat T cells--which are primed by immunization with a mixture of four 25 mer class II MHC allopeptides, representing the full length sequence of the beta chain of the hypervariable domain of the RT1.Du (WF), or by primary WF (RT1u) vascularized cardiac allografts--were capable of recognizing and proliferating to specific polymorphic class II MHC sequences when presented as peptides by responder APCs. T cells from naive LEW animals, WF animals immunized with syngeneic RT1.Du beta peptides, or LEW recipients of third-party BN (RT1n) vascularized cardiac allografts did not proliferate to the RT1.Du beta peptides, indicating the specificity of allopeptide recognition. In the strain combination used, immunogenicity of class II MHC allopeptides is determined by factors other than polymorphisms alone, since epitopic differences in 2 of the 4 RT1.Du beta allopeptides were not immunogenic. Responder T cells were CD4+, and were inhibited by monomorphic anticlass II monoclonal antibodies, and by specific anticlass II alloantibodies. These observations confirm the occurrence of self MHC-restricted recognition of processed allo-MHC in primary vascularized allograft rejection, and provide the rationale to develop novel and specific immunotherapies in organ transplantation.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Rat intestinal epithelial cells present major histocompatibility complex allopeptides to primed T cells.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Intestinal epithelial cells present protein antigens to primed T cells in vitro. The aim of this study was to investigate whether intestinal epithelial cells present peptide antigens in vitro and in vivo after oral administration. METHODS: Small intestinal epithelial cells from naive LEW (RT1) rats pulsed in vitro with a synthetic immunogenic major histocompatibility complex allopeptide, RT1.Du beta 20-44, or in vivo by oral administration of the peptide were tested for their ability to induce specific proliferation of LEW T cells primed in vivo to RT1.Du beta 20-44. RESULTS: In vitro pulsed intestinal epithelial cells induced specific proliferation of RT1.Du beta 20-44-primed T cells. Intestinal epithelial cells isolated from LEW ras that received a single oral dose of RT1.Du beta 20-44 18 hours earlier also induced specific proliferation of RT1.Du beta 20-44-primed LEW T cells. Furthermore, epithelial cells harvested from LEW rats that received WF (RT1u) splenocytes orally 18 hours earlier induced specific proliferation of RT1.Du beta 20-44-primed LEW T cells. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal epithelial cells take up processed alloantigen in vitro and in vivo for presentation as peptides to primed T cells. These observations provide a novel approach to study the role of the intestinal immune system in immune regulation in vivo.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1994

Differential effects of oral versus intrathymic administration of polymorphic major histocompatibility complex class II peptides on mononuclear and endothelial cell activation and cytokine expression during a delayed-type hypersensitivity response.

Oral and intrathymic exposure to antigen can each induce systemic antigen-specific immune tolerance, but the mechanisms have not been well defined. We studied the effects that the route of exposure to antigen has on the mechanisms of tolerance in vivo using synthetic polymorphic class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) peptides in a skin delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response model. Lewis rats were immunized by injection in the footpad with synthetic peptides (RT1.Bu and/or RT1.Du) derived from the hypervariable domain of MHC class II beta chain of the Wistar-Furth rat in complete Freund's adjuvant and challenged 2 weeks later by injection in the ear with the MHC peptides. An "oral" group received the peptide mixture by gavage (100 micrograms/day for 5 days) 3 days before immunization, and an "intrathymic" group received a single intrathymic injection of 100 micrograms of peptides 48 hours before immunization. Oral therapy reduced the DTH response to 23 +/- 7%, and intrathymic exposure reduced the DTH response to 26 +/- 6% (P < 0.001) as compared with control DTH responses of unmodified Lewis animals. Immunohistological evaluation of DTH skin lesions showed that oral and intrathymic therapy each decreased mononuclear cell infiltration, fibrin deposition, and endothelial activation when compared with that seen in control rats. In contrast, while both protocols markedly reduced interleukin (IL-2) and interferon-gamma expression, they had differing effects on local expression of IL-4, transforming growth factor-beta, IL-2R, and CD45RC (a possible discriminant between Th1 and Th2 cells in rats). Oral therapy was associated with increased expression of IL-4 and preservation of transforming growth factor-beta expression by residual IL-2R+, CD45RC- mononuclear and endothelial cells, whereas thymic exposure suppressed essentially all features of immune activation including IL-2R induction and cytokine expression. Our data a) document the detailed pattern of cytokine expression and mononuclear and endothelial cell activation markers during DTH responses and b) confirm that oral tolerance is associated with immune deviation to a predominance of Th2 cell function, whereas intrathymic tolerance may be mediated by T-cell anergy or clonal deletion.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1993

Acquired tolerance to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by intrathymic injection of myelin basic protein or its major encephalitogenic peptide.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that can be induced in a number of species by immunization with myelin basic protein (MBP) in adjuvant, and serves as an experimental model for the study of multiple sclerosis. The role of the thymus in acquired tolerance in autoimmune models has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we examined the effects of intrathymic injection of MBP or its major encephalitogenic peptide on the course of EAE in Lewis rats. A single intrathymic injection of MBP 48 h pre- but not postimmunization protects animals from actively induced EAE. An intact MBP-primed thymus was required up to 10 d postimmunization, as thymectomy on days 1, 2, and 7 postimmunization abrogated the protective effect, whereas thymectomy on day 10 did not. The proliferative response of primed lymphocytes was significantly reduced in animals that were intrathymically injected with MBP. Protection against clinical EAE was induced by thymic injection of the major encephalitogenic region (residues 71-90) but not a nonencephalitogenic (21-40) MBP epitope. Immunohistologic examination of the brain from rats intrathymically injected with encephalitogenic peptide showed markedly reduced cellular infiltrate and virtual absence of activation and inflammatory cytokines as compared with rats intrathymically injected with the nonencephalitogenic peptide. These results indicate that the thymus may play an active role in acquired systemic immunologic tolerance in T cell-mediated experimental autoimmune diseases. This effect may be mediated by a process of clonal inactivation of autoreactive T cell clones circulating through the thymus.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

In vitro alloreactivity against host antigens in an adult HLA-mismatched bone marrow transplant recipient despite in vivo host tolerance.

An adult recipient of an HLA-DR, DQ-mismatched, T cell-depleted bone marrow graft, who remains without graft versus host disease and who is not maintained on immunosuppressive therapy, was studied at 23 months posttransplantation for in vitro reactivity against the mismatched antigens of the host. The donor's PBMC's proliferated vigorously against the recipient's stimulators in the pretransplant mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC). After transplant reconstitution, MLCs demonstrated that the in vitro response of engrafted donor T cells against host MHC class II antigens was equivalent to control allogeneic responses, while there was no detectable response against the donor's antigens. Posttransplantation limiting dilution analysis showed no difference between the precursor frequencies of antihost responders among populations of fresh donor PBMCs and among the engrafted cells of donor origin that are found circulating in the patient. This result suggests that clonal deletion is, at best, incomplete and that peripheral tolerance is essential in protecting this patient from GVHD. These findings also support the conclusion that bone marrow-derived thymic elements may be important for clonal deletion in human chimeras.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Oral, but not intravenous, alloantigen prevents accelerated allograft rejection by selective intragraft Th2 cell activation.

We studied the mechanisms by which oral or intravenous administration of allogeneic splenocytes prevents sensitization by skin allografts and development of accelerated rejection of subsequent cardiac allografts. LEW rats were sensitized with BN skin allografts 7 days prior to receiving heterotopic (LEW x BN)F1 vascularized cardiac allografts. While unsensitized cardiac allografts are rejected on days 6-8, control sensitized grafts were rejected within 24 to 48 hr. Oral administration of BN splenocytes during the sensitization phase (between skin and heart grafting) has been found to prevent accelerated allograft rejection and prolong cardiac allograft survival to 7 days. An alternative route of antigen exposure, specifically intravenous administration of BN splenocytes (50 x 10(6) daily for 5 days starting on the day of skin grafting), also prevented accelerated cardiac allograft rejection and prolonged allograft survival to 9 +/- 1 days (n = 5). Immunoperoxidase studies of cardiac allografts harvested 24-48 hr posttransplant showed that, when compared with sensitized controls, animals that received oral splenocytes had reduced deposition of IgG (end-point titer of 1/1000 vs. 1/4000), IgM (1/1000 vs. 1/16000), C3 (1/4000 vs. 1/16000), and fibrin (1/4000 vs. 1/16000). There was also decreased infiltration by macrophages (18 +/- 8 vs. 37 +/- 8 cells/HPF, P < 0.01), T cells (5 +/- 3 vs. 19 +/- 7, P < 0.01), and IL-2R+ T cells (5 +/- 3 vs. 15 +/- 4, P < 0.01), and a significant reduction in the numbers and extent of intragraft mononuclear cells stained with antibodies to IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IFN-gamma, and TNF-alpha. In contrast, these grafts showed markedly increased IL-4 staining (including most mononuclear and all endothelial cells), as compared with control grafts (< 20% of mononuclear cells and only focal endothelial staining). Immunoperoxidase studies of cardiac allografts harvested from rats receiving intravenous splenocytes also showed markedly reduced humoral deposits and cellular infiltrates, comparable to that found in the oral splenocytes-treated group, but showed significantly different cytokine expression. In particular, some intragraft mononuclear cell labeling for IFN-gamma remained, and IL-4 staining was not increased relative to control grafts. Attempts were then made to abrogate spleen cell-induced prolongation of cardiac allograft survival by daily injections of CD4 monoclonal antibody (BWH-4 mAb, 700 micrograms) from the time of cardiac transplantation, therapy previously shown unable to prolong cardiac survival in this model when commenced after skin graft-induced sensitization has occurred.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1993

Thymic recognition of class II major histocompatibility complex allopeptides induces donor-specific unresponsiveness to renal allografts.

Recent data show that intrathymic injection of allogeneic cells induces donor-specific unresponsiveness to allografts. There is also evidence to suggest that, in addition to recognizing intact MHC molecules, T cells can recognize processed MHC peptides, although the role of this indirect mode of allo-recognition in allograft rejection is unknown. We report that a single intrathymic injection of 100 micrograms of a mixture of eight 25-mer synthetic polymorphic class II MHC allopeptides, representing the full-length sequence of RT1.Bu beta and RT1.Du beta (WF) into incompatible (RT1l) LEW recipients, induced a state of long-term unresponsiveness to subsequent engraftment 2 days later of WF, but not third party (RT1n) BN renal allografts. Intrathymic injection of 100 micrograms of either RT1.Bu beta or RT1.Du beta peptide mixtures alone were insufficient to prolong renal allograft survival. Intravenous or intrasplenic injection of the allopeptide mixture did not affect renal allograft survival, establishing the role of thymic recognition of class II MHC allopeptides in inducing systemic unresponsiveness. The induction of intrathymic donor-specific unresponsiveness was abrogated if thymectomy was performed on the day of renal transplantation or 5 days later. PBLs from long-term surviving animals exhibited marked reduction of proliferation to WF, but not third party BN stimulator lymphocytes in the standard mixed lymphocyte response assay in vitro. These observations emphasize the role of recognition of processed MHC molecules in vascularized allograft rejection and confirm the role of the thymus in acquired systemic tolerance to alloantigens.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Induction of immunity and oral tolerance with polymorphic class II major histocompatibility complex allopeptides in the rat.

We studied the immunogenicity and tolerogenicity of class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) allopeptides in the rat. Inbred LEW (RT1l) rats, used as responders, were immunized in the foot pad with a mixture of eight synthetic class II MHC allopeptides emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant. These sequences represent the full-length second domain of RT1.Bu and RT1.Du (WF) beta chains. In vitro, responder lymphocytes harvested from popliteal and inguinal lymph nodes of immunized animals exhibited significant proliferation to the MHC allopeptide mixture. In addition, these responder lymphocytes had significantly increased proliferation to allogeneic WF (RT1u) stimulator cells, when compared to naive controls in the standard one-way mixed lymphocyte response. In vivo, peptide-immunized LEW animals were challenged in the ear 2 weeks after immunization with the allopeptide mixture, the individual allopeptide sequences, or allogeneic WF splenocytes. When compared to controls, these animals had significant delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to the allopeptide mixture, to the beta-pleated sheet allopeptide sequences, and to allogeneic WF splenocytes but not to the alpha-helix allopeptide sequences, to syngeneic LEW splenocytes, or to third party allogeneic BN splenocytes. Oral administration of the allopeptide mixture to LEW responder rats daily for 5 days before immunization effected significant reduction of delayed-type hypersensitivity responses both to the allopeptide mixture and to allogeneic splenocytes. This reduction was antigen-specific, since there was no reduction of delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to mycobacterium tuberculosis. These data demonstrate that lymphocytes from animals immunized with polymorphic class II MHC allopeptides can recognize and proliferate to the same amino acid sequences on allogeneic cell surface MHC molecules. In addition, oral administration of these peptides down-regulates the systemic cell-mediated immune response in a specific fashion. Synthetic MHC allopeptides should allow the study of alloimmunity in vivo, including induction of immune tolerance.

Amino Acid Sequence↗