Suppression of cytotoxic and proliferative xenogeneic T-cell responses by transgenic expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase

Tryptophan catabolism initiated by the enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) has been postulated to be a natural regulatory mechanism for T cells. In this study, we generated a pig endothelial cell line expressing full-length human IDO (P-HuIDO) to serve as a simple model of a cellular xenogeneic graft. Splenocytes from mice primed to P-HuIDO cells were found to be as responsive to secondary stimulation as splenocytes from mice primed to parental cells. However, in T-cell proliferation assays using P-HuIDO cells as stimulators, a significant inhibition of both naive and memory xenogeneic proliferative responses was noted. Furthermore, the production of interferon-gamma and cytotoxic T lymphocyte function were also affected. When severe combined immunodeficiency mice were grafted with P-HuIDO cells, then challenged with primed splenocytes from BALB/c mice, cellular infiltration to the graft was delayed. Our findings suggest that transgenic expression of IDO in xenografts contributes to prolonged graft survival.