移植物抗宿主病(GVHD),骨髓移植(BMT)后的不良反应,可能影响男性生殖功能。假设性别不匹配的BMT在男性生殖器官中诱导GVHD,因为女性免疫细胞在免疫学上对男性器官的特定抗原没有耐受性。然而,该假设尚未使用来自雌性(F)供体的BMT后的雄性(M)受体动物进行实验验证。因此,本研究的目的是检查女性BMT对男性(F→M组)是否在睾丸和其他男性生殖器官中引起某些GVHD反应。结果表明,在男性BMT的接受者(M→M组)中未发现炎症,而在睾丸中诱导了持续至少4个月的显著炎症细胞反应,附睾,F→M组部分小鼠的前列腺和包皮腺。最严重的病变是在包皮腺,其中淋巴细胞炎症伴随着腺泡的丧失,增厚的插入和增加的细胞因子,如TNF-α和IFN-γ。Western印迹分析显示,来自F→M组的血清与男性生殖器官的各种抗原反应。这些结果表明,移植的雌性免疫细胞可能将雄性生殖器官识别为免疫外源器官并诱导慢性GVHD。这可能会影响男性生殖功能。
Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), an adverse effect after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), may affect male reproductive function. It is hypothesized that a sex-mismatched BMT induces GVHD in male reproductive organs because female immune cells are not immunologically tolerant to specific antigens of the male organs. However, this hypothesis has not been experimentally verified using male (M) recipient animals following BMT from the female (F) donors. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine whether the female BMT to males (F→M group) induces some GVHD reactions in the testis and the other male reproductive organs. The results showed that no inflammation was found in recipients of the male BMT to males (M→M group), whereas significant inflammatory cell responses lasting for at least 4 months were induced in testis, epididymis, prostate and preputial gland in some mice of F→M group. The most severe lesion was found in the preputial gland, in which lymphocytic inflammation was accompanied by loss of glandular acini, thickening of the interstitum and increased cytokines such as TNF-α and IFN-γ. Western blot analyses revealed that sera from the F→M group reacted with various antigens of the male reproductive organs. These results indicate that transplanted female immune cells may recognize the male reproductive organs as immunologically foreign ones and induce chronic GVHD, which may affect male reproductive function.