Frontiers in Immunology (Mar 2021)

Allograft or Recipient ST2 Deficiency Oppositely Affected Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy via Differentially Altering Immune Cells Infiltration

  • Zhenggang Zhang,
  • Na Zhang,
  • Junyu Shi,
  • Chan Dai,
  • Suo Wu,
  • Mengya Jiao,
  • Xuhuan Tang,
  • Yunfei Liu,
  • Xiaoxiao Li,
  • Yong Xu,
  • Zheng Tan,
  • Zheng Tan,
  • Feili Gong,
  • Fang Zheng,
  • Fang Zheng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.657803
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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The role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is not fully addressed. Here, we investigated the role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in allograft or recipient in CAV respectively using MHC-mismatch murine chronic cardiac allograft rejection model. We found that recipients ST2 deficiency significantly exacerbated allograft vascular occlusion and fibrosis, accompanied by increased F4/80+ macrophages and CD3+ T cells infiltration in allografts. In contrast, allografts ST2 deficiency resulted in decreased infiltration of F4/80+ macrophages, CD3+ T cells and CD20+ B cells and thus alleviated vascular occlusion and fibrosis of allografts. These findings indicated that allografts or recipients ST2 deficiency oppositely affected cardiac allograft vasculopathy/fibrosis via differentially altering immune cells infiltration, which suggest that interrupting IL-33/ST2 signaling locally or systematically after heart transplantation leads different outcome.

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