Alloimmunity and Tolerance in Corneal Transplantation Afsaneh Amouzegar, Sunil K
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Alloimmunity and Tolerance in Corneal Transplantation Afsaneh Amouzegar, Sunil K. Chauhan and Reza Dana This information is current as J Immunol 2016; 196:3983-3991; ; of September 29, 2021. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1600251 http://www.jimmunol.org/content/196/10/3983 Downloaded from References This article cites 116 articles, 55 of which you can access for free at: http://www.jimmunol.org/content/196/10/3983.full#ref-list-1 Why The JI? Submit online. http://www.jimmunol.org/ • Rapid Reviews! 30 days* from submission to initial decision • No Triage! Every submission reviewed by practicing scientists • Fast Publication! 4 weeks from acceptance to publication *average by guest on September 29, 2021 Subscription Information about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online at: http://jimmunol.org/subscription Permissions Submit copyright permission requests at: http://www.aai.org/About/Publications/JI/copyright.html Email Alerts Receive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at: http://jimmunol.org/alerts The Journal of Immunology is published twice each month by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc., 1451 Rockville Pike, Suite 650, Rockville, MD 20852 Copyright © 2016 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. All rights reserved. Print ISSN: 0022-1767 Online ISSN: 1550-6606. Th eJournal of Brief Reviews Immunology Alloimmunity and Tolerance in Corneal Transplantation Afsaneh Amouzegar, Sunil K. Chauhan,1 and Reza Dana1 Corneal transplantation is one of the most prevalent suppressive therapy (7); these outcomes are considerably worse and successful forms of solid tissue transplantation. De- than for kidney, heart, or liver transplants. Interestingly, the spite favorable outcomes, immune-mediated graft rejec- remarkable rate of success normally seen in low-risk corneal tion remains the major cause of corneal allograft failure. grafts, unlike other solid transplants, is achievable without the Although low-risk graft recipients with uninflamed benefit of HLA matching or profound systemic immune sup- graft beds enjoy a success rate ∼90%, the rejection pression (7). rates in inflamed graft beds or high-risk recipients Despite these favorable outcomes, graft rejection remains the often exceed 50%, despite maximal immune suppres- leading cause of corneal allograft failure (8). Corneal graft rejection can occur in any of the three cell layers of the cornea sion. In this review, we discuss the critical facets of Downloaded from corneal alloimmunity, including immune and angio- (epithelium, stroma, or endothelium), with endothelial re- genic privilege, mechanisms of allosensitization, cellu- jection being the most prevalent sight-threatening form. This can be attributed to the fact that the endothelial cells of the lar and molecular mediators of graft rejection, and cornea are irreplaceable and perform the critical function of allotolerance induction. The Journal of Immunology, preventing the tissue from getting swollen (9). Graft rejection 2016, 196: 3983–3991. is characterized clinically by graft edema (swelling) and in- flammatory cells that can be seen circulating in the anterior http://www.jimmunol.org/ ore than a century has passed since Eduard Zirm, chamber of the eye or attaching as keratic precipitates to the an Austrian ophthalmologist, performed the first graft endothelial cells (Fig. 1A) (10). Several factors have been M partially successful full-thickness human corneal associated with a higher risk for graft failure, with the degree transplant (1). Today, corneal transplantation is one of the of host bed neovascularization being the most significant most prevalent forms of solid tissue transplantation performed prognosticator for earlier and a more severe graft rejection (7, in the world (2). It is estimated that well over 100,000 corneal 11, 12). transplant surgeries are performed annually worldwide, with In this review, we discuss the factors involved in ocular nearly 40,000 performed annually in the United States alone inflammation, activation and migration of APCs, pathways of by guest on September 29, 2021 (3). Several trends are notable. First, the number of corneal allosensitization and allotolerance, and mechanisms of graft grafts performed in the developing world, especially Asia, destruction (Fig. 1B). is increasing sharply as the result of enhanced eye bank- ing procedures and distribution networks. Second, partial- Immune and angiogenic privilege of the cornea and their implications thickness corneal transplants (lamellar keratoplasty) are in- in transplant immunity creasingly being used in place of full-thickness transplants The term immune privilege was coined by Sir Peter Med- (penetrating keratoplasty) when the entire cornea does not awar in the late 1940s, when he recognized the extended need to be replaced; this trend has led to some decreased risk survival of skin allografts placed in the anterior chamber of for graft rejection, likely because of the decreased load of al- the eye (13). He attributed this unexpected graft survival to logeneic tissue (4, 5). Still, it is critical to emphasize that the what he considered to be immunological ignorance, a pas- most important prognosticator of graft success is the status of sive process of sequestration of foreign Ags in the anterior the recipient bed in which the corneal graft is placed. The 2-y chamber as the result of the absence of draining lymphatic graft survival for penetrating keratoplasty in nonvascularized vessels. However, later in the 1970s, Kaplan and Streilein (14) and uninflamed host beds or low-risk corneal transplants is demonstrated that immune privilege was, in fact, the result ∼90% (6). However, recipients with a history of graft rejec- of an actively maintained and deviant suppressive immune tion or grafts performed in inflamed and vascularized host response to ocular Ags, a phenomenon that was later refer- beds are considered to be at high risk for rejection, with failure red to as anterior chamber–associated immune deviation rates . 50%, despite maximal local and systemic immuno- (ACAID) (15). Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical addresses: [email protected] (S.K.C.) and [email protected] School, Boston, MA 02114 (R.D.) 1S.K.C. and R.D. contributed equally to this work. Abbreviations used in this article: ACAID, anterior chamber–associated immune devi- ation; CCTS, Collaborative Corneal Transplantation Studies; DC, dendritic cell; DTH, Received for publication February 10, 2016. Accepted for publication March 10, 2016. delayed-type hypersensitivity; FasL, Fas ligand; IL-1Ra, IL-1R antagonist; LN, lymph This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants EY24602 (to node; Nrp-1, neuropilin-1; PDL-1, programmed death ligand-1; tolDC, tolerogenic S.K.C.) and EY12963 (to R.D.). DC; Treg, regulatory T cell; TSP, thrombospondin-1; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sunil K. Chauhan and Dr. Reza Dana, Schepens Eye Research Institute, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail Copyright Ó 2016 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. 0022-1767/16/$30.00 www.jimmunol.org/cgi/doi/10.4049/jimmunol.1600251 3984 BRIEF REVIEWS: ALLOIMMUNITY AND TOLERANCE IN CORNEAL TRANSPLANTATION FIGURE 1. Immunobiology of corneal transplanta- tion. (A) Clinical manifestation of corneal graft rejec- tion. Infiltrating monocytes and T cells attack the graft, often involving a rejection line that marches across the inner endothelial layer of the transplant, leaving an opaque and swollen graft behind. (B) Schematic repre- sentation of corneal alloimmunity. (I) Following trans- plant surgery, upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, Downloaded from adhesion molecules, and proangiogenic factors results in corneal infiltration of immune cells and formation of new blood and lymphatic vessels. (II) APCs, which acquire MHC class II and costimulatory molecules in the in- flammatory environment, egress from the cornea through lymphatic vessels to the draining LNs, where they present alloantigens to naive T cells (Th0). Newly formed lym- http://www.jimmunol.org/ phatic vessels may also contribute to resolution of in- flammation by mediating clearance of inflammatory cells and debris. (III) Primed T cells undergo clonal expansion and differentiate primarily into IFN-g–secreting CD4+ Th1 cells. Tregs modulate induction of alloimmune re- sponses through inhibition of T cell activation or sup- pression of APC stimulatory potential. (IV) Alloreactive Th1 cells migrate through blood vessels and along a chemokine gradient toward the graft, where they mount a by guest on September 29, 2021 DTH response against the allogeneic tissue, resulting in graft opacification and failure. Immune privilege. ACAID is a form of immune tolerance keratoplasty causes a significant improvement in corneal to alloantigens placed in the anterior chamber of the eye allograft survival(18,19). that results in downregulation of Ag-specific delayed-type In addition to immunological tolerance induced by ACAID, hypersensitivity (DTH) response while promoting humoral several mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of ocular im- immunity and production of noncomplement-fixing Abs muneprivilege(TableI).Thecorneaexpressesanarrayof (16).ThisprocessisthoughttobemediatedbyF4/80+ membrane-bound immunomodulatory molecules that protect APCs in the eye that capture intraocular Ags,