Kinetics of in vitro immune responses of T and B cells during tolerance induction by sirolimus.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study presented herein was to examine immune performances of rat heart allograft recipients immunosuppressed with sirolimus (SRL, rapamycin; Rapamune, Wyeth-Ayerst, Princeton, NJ). METHODS: The immune performances of lymphocytes harvested from SRL-treated Wistar Furth (WF; RT1u) recipients of Buffalo (BUF; RT1b) heart allografts were examined on days 7, 14, and 90 postgrafting. RESULTS: Whether derived from normal WF rats, SRL-treated WF heart recipients, or SRL-untreated WF heart recipients, pan-T cell population purified from the lymph nodes or spleens on day 7 or 14 displayed similar responses to phytohemaglutinin, anti-T cell receptor R73 monoclonal antibody, donor-type BUF, or third-party Brown Norway alloantigenic stimulators. There was no in vitro evidence of suppressor T cells in SRL-treated recipients. The frequencies of anti-BUF-specific cytotoxic T cells, as shown by limiting dilution analysis, were similar in the short- (days 7 or 14) and in the long- (day 90) term surviving recipients. SRL treatment did not affect the expression of interleukin-2 (IL-2) messenger RNA (mRNA) by T helper 1 (Th1) or of IL-4 and IL-10 mRNA by Th2 cells on days 7 and 14 postgrafting, but did induce selective activation of Th2 cells on day 60 postgrafting. Administration of SRL induced the production of non-complement (C')-fixing IgG2c BUF-specific alloantibodies that appeared in the sera of unresponsive recipients on day 14 postgrafting and reached a peak concentration on day 120 postgrafting. In contrast to untreated recipients that rejected BUF heart allografts, all SRL-treated WF recipients failed to produce C'-fixing BUF-specific alloantibodies. CONCLUSIONS: SRL promotes long-term selective activation of Th2 cells and the production of non-C'-fixing IgG2c blocking antibodies.