Prevention of graft-versus-host disease by a novel immunosuppressant LLT, through expansion of regulatory T cells

摘要

AIM To evaluate the validity of LLT in prevention and therapy of acute graft versus host disease and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. LLT is a new compound derived from triptolide, which is the major immunosuppressive fraction of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. F (TWHF). Studies in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that LLT had potent immunosuppressive activities. Here we tested the immunosuppressive effects of LLT in murine allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and investigated the mechanisms underlying its suppressive effects. METHODS LLT was administered to recipients in BALB/cA→C57BL/6 murine BMT model, in which donor and recipient differ at major and minor histocompatibility antigens.Survival and weight change were recorded in recipients after alloBMT. Spleen size, chimerism and splenic T cell subpopulation were analysed by using flow cytometry.