PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ibon Eguíluz-Gracia
AU  - Hans Henrik Lawaetz Schultz
AU  - Liv I B Sikkeland
AU  - Elena Danilova
AU  - Are M Holm
AU  - Cornelis J H Pronk
AU  - William W Agace
AU  - Martin Iversen
AU  - Claus Andersen
AU  - Frode L Jahnsen
AU  - Espen S Baekkevold
TI  - Long-term persistence of human donor alveolar macrophages in lung transplant recipients
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-208292
DP  - 2016 Nov 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - 1006--1011
VI  - 71
IP  - 11
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/11/1006.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/11/1006.full
SO  - Thorax2016 Nov 01; 71
AB  - Background Alveolar macrophages (AMFs) are critical regulators of lung function, and may participate in graft rejection following lung transplantation. Recent studies in experimental animals suggest that most AMFs are self-maintaining cells of embryonic origin, but knowledge about the ontogeny and life span of human AMFs is scarce.Methods To follow the origin and longevity of AMFs in patients with lung transplantation for more than 100 weeks, we obtained transbronchial biopsies from 10 gender-mismatched patients with lung transplantation. These were subjected to combined in situ hybridisation for X/Y chromosomes and immunofluorescence staining for macrophage markers. Moreover, development of AMFs in humanised mice reconstituted with CD34+ umbilical cord-derived cells was assessed.Results The number of donor-derived AMFs was unchanged during the 2 year post-transplantation period. A fraction of the AMFs proliferated locally, demonstrating that at least a subset of human AMFs have the capacity to self-renew. Lungs of humanised mice were found to abundantly contain populations of human AMFs expressing markers compatible with a monocyte origin. Moreover, in patients with lung transplantation we found that recipient monocytes seeded the alveoli early after transplantation, and showed subsequent phenotypical changes consistent with differentiation into proliferating mature AMFs. This resulted in a stable mixed chimerism between donor and recipient AMFs throughout the 2-year period.Conclusions The finding that human AMFs are maintained in the lung parenchyma for several years indicates that pulmonary macrophage transplantation can be a feasible therapeutic option for patients with diseases caused by dysfunctional AMFs. Moreover, in a lung transplantation setting, long-term persistence of donor AMFs may be important for the development of chronic graft rejection.