The influence of MHC-compatible and MHC-incompatible antigen-presenting cells on the survival of MHC-compatible cultured murine keratinocyte allografts.

Our group has shown previously that APC-depleted cultured epidermal keratinocytes show prolonged survival when grafted onto normal MHC-incompatible adult mice. We show here that in vitro culture also improves significantly the survival of MHC-compatible keratinocyte allografts, although these nonrejected grafts are repopulated by host cells identified by their dendritic morphology and phenotype (class II+, leukocyte-common antigen+) as APCs. Reconstitution of cultured grafts, immediately prior to transplantation, with MHC-compatible dendritic cells of either donor or recipient origin, results in graft rejection--thus demonstrating that cultured cells can be rejected by the recipient animal--and suggests that a paucity of APCs in the immediate postgrafting period is responsible for the privilege afforded these grafts.