Kyle A Soltys1, Kentaro Setoyama2, Edgar N Tafaleng2, Alejandro Soto Gutiérrez3, Jason Fong2, Ken Fukumitsu4, Taichiro Nishikawa2, Masaki Nagaya2, Rachel Sada1, Kimberly Haberman1, Roberto Gramignoli5, Kenneth Dorko4, Veysel Tahan4, Alexandra Dreyzin2, Kevin Baskin6, John J Crowley6, Mubina A Quader7, Melvin Deutsch7, Chethan Ashokkumar1, Benjamin L Shneider8, Robert H Squires8, Sarangarajan Ranganathan9, Miguel Reyes-Mugica9, Steven F Dobrowolski9, George Mazariegos1, Rajavel Elango10, Donna B Stolz11, Stephen C Strom5, Gerard Vockley12, Jayanta Roy-Chowdhury13, Marilia Cascalho14, Chandan Guha15, Rakesh Sindhi1, Jeffrey L Platt14, Ira J Fox16. 1. Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 2. Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 3. Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 4. Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 5. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 6. Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 7. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 8. Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 9. Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 10. Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia and Child & Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. 11. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 12. Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Department of Medical Genetics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. 13. Departments of Medicine and Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States; Marion Bessin Liver Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States. 14. Departments of Surgery and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States. 15. Department of Radiation Oncology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States. 16. Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. Electronic address: ira.fox@chp.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatocyte transplantation partially corrects genetic disorders and has been associated anecdotally with reversal of acute liver failure. Monitoring for graft function and rejection has been difficult, and has contributed to limited graft survival. Here we aimed to use preparative liver-directed radiation therapy, and continuous monitoring for possible rejection in an attempt to overcome these limitations. METHODS: Preparative hepatic irradiation was examined in non-human primates as a strategy to improve engraftment of donor hepatocytes, and was then applied in human subjects. T cell immune monitoring was also examined in human subjects to assess adequacy of immunosuppression. RESULTS: Porcine hepatocyte transplants engrafted and expanded to comprise up to 15% of irradiated segments in immunosuppressed monkeys preconditioned with 10Gy liver-directed irradiation. Two patients with urea cycle deficiencies had early graft loss following hepatocyte transplantation; retrospective immune monitoring suggested the need for additional immunosuppression. Preparative radiation, anti-lymphocyte induction, and frequent immune monitoring were instituted for hepatocyte transplantation in a 27year old female with classical phenylketonuria. Post-transplant liver biopsies demonstrated multiple small clusters of transplanted cells, multiple mitoses, and Ki67+ hepatocytes. Mean peripheral blood phenylalanine (PHE) level fell from pre-transplant levels of 1343±48μM (normal 30-119μM) to 854±25μM (treatment goal ≤360μM) after transplant (36% decrease; p<0.0001), despite transplantation of only half the target number of donor hepatocytes. PHE levels remained below 900μM during supervised follow-up, but graft loss occurred after follow-up became inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Radiation preconditioning and serial rejection risk assessment may produce better engraftment and long-term survival of transplanted hepatocytes. Hepatocyte xenografts engraft for a period of months in non-human primates and may provide effective therapy for patients with acute liver failure. LAY SUMMARY: Hepatocyte transplantation can potentially be used to treat genetic liver disorders but its application in clinical practice has been impeded by inefficient hepatocyte engraftment and the inability to monitor rejection of transplanted liver cells. In this study, we first show in non-human primates that pretreatment of the host liver with radiation improves the engraftment of transplanted liver cells. We then used this knowledge in a series of clinical hepatocyte transplants in patients with genetic liver disorders to show that radiation pretreatment and rejection risk monitoring are safe and, if optimized, could improve engraftment and long-term survival of transplanted hepatocytes in patients.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatocyte transplantation partially corrects genetic disorders and has been associated anecdotally with reversal of acute liver failure. Monitoring for graft function and rejection has been difficult, and has contributed to limited graft survival. Here we aimed to use preparative liver-directed radiation therapy, and continuous monitoring for possible rejection in an attempt to overcome these limitations. METHODS: Preparative hepatic irradiation was examined in non-human primates as a strategy to improve engraftment of donor hepatocytes, and was then applied in human subjects. T cell immune monitoring was also examined in human subjects to assess adequacy of immunosuppression. RESULTS: Porcine hepatocyte transplants engrafted and expanded to comprise up to 15% of irradiated segments in immunosuppressed monkeys preconditioned with 10Gy liver-directed irradiation. Two patients with urea cycle deficiencies had early graft loss following hepatocyte transplantation; retrospective immune monitoring suggested the need for additional immunosuppression. Preparative radiation, anti-lymphocyte induction, and frequent immune monitoring were instituted for hepatocyte transplantation in a 27year old female with classical phenylketonuria. Post-transplant liver biopsies demonstrated multiple small clusters of transplanted cells, multiple mitoses, and Ki67+ hepatocytes. Mean peripheral blood phenylalanine (PHE) level fell from pre-transplant levels of 1343±48μM (normal 30-119μM) to 854±25μM (treatment goal ≤360μM) after transplant (36% decrease; p<0.0001), despite transplantation of only half the target number of donor hepatocytes. PHE levels remained below 900μM during supervised follow-up, but graft loss occurred after follow-up became inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Radiation preconditioning and serial rejection risk assessment may produce better engraftment and long-term survival of transplanted hepatocytes. Hepatocyte xenografts engraft for a period of months in non-human primates and may provide effective therapy for patients with acute liver failure. LAY SUMMARY: Hepatocyte transplantation can potentially be used to treat genetic liver disorders but its application in clinical practice has been impeded by inefficient hepatocyte engraftment and the inability to monitor rejection of transplanted liver cells. In this study, we first show in non-human primates that pretreatment of the host liver with radiation improves the engraftment of transplanted liver cells. We then used this knowledge in a series of clinical hepatocyte transplants in patients with genetic liver disorders to show that radiation pretreatment and rejection risk monitoring are safe and, if optimized, could improve engraftment and long-term survival of transplanted hepatocytes in patients.
Authors: C Guha; A Sharma; S Gupta; A Alfieri; G R Gorla; S Gagandeep; R Sokhi; N Roy-Chowdhury; K E Tanaka; B Vikram; J Roy-Chowdhury Journal: Cancer Res Date: 1999-12-01 Impact factor: 12.701
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Authors: D K Cooper; A H Good; E Koren; R Oriol; A J Malcolm; R M Ippolito; F A Neethling; Y Ye; E Romano; N Zuhdi Journal: Transpl Immunol Date: 1993 Impact factor: 1.708
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