1. Academic Validation
  2. Autophagy-lysosome inhibitor chloroquine prevents CTLA-4 degradation of T cells and attenuates acute rejection in murine skin and heart transplantation

Autophagy-lysosome inhibitor chloroquine prevents CTLA-4 degradation of T cells and attenuates acute rejection in murine skin and heart transplantation

  • Theranostics. 2020 Jul 1;10(18):8051-8060. doi: 10.7150/thno.43507.
Jikai Cui 1 Jizhang Yu 1 Heng Xu 1 Yanqiang Zou 1 Hao Zhang 1 Shanshan Chen 1 Sheng Le 1 Jing Zhao 1 Lang Jiang 1 Jiahong Xia 1 Jie Wu 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
Abstract

Background: The immune checkpoint cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), induced upon T cell activation but degraded quickly, has been targeted in the clinical therapy of advanced cancers and autoimmune diseases. However, whether inhibiting CTLA-4 degradation ameliorates transplant rejection remains unknown. Methods: The CTLA-4 expression in activated murine T cells treated with the inhibitors mediating protein degradation was detected by flow cytometry (FCM). CD45.1 mice, which received TEa T cells and underwent heart transplantation, were administrated with the inhibitor. Subsequently, CTLA-4 expression of TEa T cells was analyzed. Murine skin and heart transplantation models were built, then the survival and histopathology of the allografts, and T cell subsets in the spleens of each group were compared. Results: Chloroquine (CQ) was identified as an inhibitor of CTLA-4 degradation, which augmented both surface and total CTLA-4 expression in T cells. It considerably prolonged the skin and heart allograft survival time and reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells in allografts. Besides decreasing the frequencies of the CD4+ and CD8+ effector T cells, especially IFN-γ producing T cells, CQ also increased the proportion of regulatory T cells in the spleen. The CTLA-4 blockade abrogated the benefits of CQ on the survival of heart allografts. Moreover, CQ enhanced CTLA-4 expression in activated human T cells and reduced the secretion of IFN-γ in human mixed lymphocyte reaction. Conclusion: Targeting CTLA-4 degradation provides a novel means to prevent transplant rejection and induce transplant tolerance.

Keywords

Autophagy; Chloroquine; Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4; T cells; Transplant rejection..

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