Abstract
In order to determine the means of monitoring the immunological status of allograft recipients in miniature swine, an assay was developed to measure interleukin (IL)-2 production in vitro by pretreatment of donor peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Miniature swine were given 0 to 4 weekly intravenous transfusions of 5-10×107 donor PBL incompatible at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and assayed in vitro for donor specific immune IL-2-like activities. The results are summarized as follows: (1) IL-2-like activity in 24 hr and 48 hr supernatants from mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) with MHC-incompatible PBL was detected without pretreatment. The 48 hr MLC supernatant exhibited a high IL-2-like activity compared with the 24 hr; (2) IL-2-like activity after only one transfusion with MHC-incompatible PBL was higher than that without pretreatment; (3) IL-2-like activity in 4 weekly transfusions was detectable slightly earlier than that without pretreatment or three transfusions with MHC-incompatibile PBL.
