Pre-existing donor-reactive memory T cells are likely to be a foe of long-term allograft survival no matter which immunosuppressive strategy is employed (Figure ). For instance, studies assessing the pre-transplant frequency of donor-reactive memory T cells have identified a direct correlation between donor-reactive memory T cell precursor frequency (measured by IFN-γ production following short
ex vivo restimulation) and increased risk of acute rejection while on standard calcineurin inhibitor-based immunosuppression (Heeger et al.,
1999). However, direct assessment of the impact of calcineurin inhibition on alloreactive memory T cell responses revealed a strong inhibition of alloreactive T cell proliferation (Pearl et al.,
2005). While calcineurin inhibition may effectively attenuate memory T cell recall responses, it is also associated with a number of off-target toxicities that lead to the development of hyperlipidemia, type II diabetes, cardiovascular events, and, not insignificantly, renal failure (Halloran,
2004). Identification and therapeutic targeting of those pathways critical for the initiation and maintenance of donor-reactive memory T cells is an important area of investigation in the field. As discussed above, work in animal models has revealed that memory T cells are for the most part not effectively inhibited by CD28 costimulation blockade. This increased resistance may in part explain the increased incidence and severity of acute rejection episodes observed in patients treated with the CD28 blocker belatacept (Larsen et al.,
2005), as compared to cyclosporine-treated controls in recent Phase II and Phase II studies of renal transplant recipients (Vincenti et al.,
2005,
2010; Durrbach et al.,
2010). Determining whether high pre-transplant donor-reactive memory T cell precursor frequency actually correlates with increased incidence and severity of acute rejection in human renal allograft recipients treated with belatacept constitutes an important area of future research. Thus, as use of belatacept in clinical transplantation is likely to increase following its FDA approval in June 2011, the need to simultaneously attenuate donor-reactive memory T cell responses by targeting memory cell-specific pathways becomes more pressing.
As such, several groups have studied the mechanisms by which memory T cells escape tolerance induction following costimulatory blockade. Vu et al. (
2006) reported that targeting OX40, but not inducible costimulatory molecule (ICOS), CD70, or 41BB could synergize with CD28/CD40 blockade to inhibit rejection mediated by donor-reactive memory cells, but in most experiments rejection ultimately ensued. In contrast, others have observed that anti-CD70 could inhibit rejection mediated by memory cells in mice lacking lymph nodes (Yamada et al.,
2005). Given their homing properties, it seems likely rejection in this model may be mediated primarily by T
EM, although the relative abundance of donor-reactive cells in the various memory subsets was not defined. In addition, Valujskikh and colleagues recently interrogated the role of ICOS (CD278) in the ability of early graft-infiltrating memory T cells to initiate effector functions associated with graft rejection (Schenk et al.,
2009). Their results revealed that while ICOS was not constitutively expressed on all memory T cells, its expression was upregulated
in situ following proliferation of memory T cells within the graft itself. Importantly, blockade of ICOS signaling on memory T cells led to a significant decrease in the early expression of IFN-γ, perforin, granzyme B, and FasL mRNA within memory T cell-infiltrated allograft (Schenk et al.,
2009). In other settings, CD4
+ memory cells escaped anti-CD154 therapy and could provide help for CD8
+ T cell responses, macrophage activation, and anti-donor antibody production (Chen et al.,
2004), and it is tempting to speculate that the T
FH memory subset that expresses TRANCE and CD30L may have contributed to this CD154 independent rejection (Crotty,
2011). Furthermore, previous work has shown that the NFκB inhibitor deoxyspergualin synergized with CD28/CD40 blockade (Adams et al.,
2003) to inhibit graft rejection predominantly mediated by CD8
+ T
CM. More recent studies have confirmed these early findings by demonstrating that reagents which block proteasome degradation and thereby inhibit NFκB nuclear translocation also showed efficacy as inhibitors of donor-reactive memory T cell responses. Specifically, a recent
in vitro study demonstrated the ability of bortezomib, one such proteasome inhibitor, to effectively inhibit activation of memory T cells
in vitro (Kim et al.,
2009). As an added benefit, bortezomib also preserved regulatory T cell function in these studies (Kim et al.,
2009).
It is well established that memory T cells mediate graft rejection by rapidly trafficking into allografts and elaborating inflammatory cytokines that recruit in other innate and adaptive immune cells, activating the endothelium and epithelium of the graft, and executing their cytolytic function. Thus, one potential strategy to limit their pathogenicity might be to block the ability of memory T cells to migrate into the transplanted tissue. In 2011, Fairchild and colleagues demonstrated that the early infiltration of memory T cells into donor tissue was suppressed following treatment with LFA-1 antagonists (Setoguchi et al.,
2009; Figure ), and our group showed that anti-LFA-1 mAb synergized with traditional costimulation blockade in effectively diminishing the donor-reactive memory T cell response in murine models (Kitchens et al.,
2011a). This synergy was mediated by a decrease in donor-reactive memory T cell cytokine secretion and cytolytic function in the spleen and draining lymph nodes in addition to a diminution in antigen-specific T cell trafficking into the graft (Kitchens et al.,
2011a). Furthermore, recent translational studies in a non-human primate model of islet transplantation revealed that a short course of anti-LFA-1 synergized with belatacept in inhibiting alloislet rejection (Badell et al.,
2010). In addition, efalizumab, initially developed and FDA approved for the inhibition of autoreactive T cell responses during psoriasis, was recently tested in phase II clinical trials in both renal and islet transplantation (Vincenti et al.,
2007; Posselt et al.,
2010; Turgeon et al.,
2010). These studies assessed the utility of an efalizumab-based regimen in inhibiting rejection in recipients of pancreatic islet allografts. Hundred percent of the patients treated with efalizumab in the two islet studies maintained insulin independence for the duration of treatment with the drug (Posselt et al.,
2010; Turgeon et al.,
2010). Unfortunately, efalizumab was voluntarily withdrawn by the manufacturer in 2009 due to detection of progressive multi-focal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in patients treated with efalizumab. This rare but potentially fatal JC polyoma-associated disease has thus occurred in only four of ~46,000 treated subjects (0.008%; Carson et al.,
2009). While this is clearly a devastating complication, the PML risk associated with efalizumab is not higher than that associated with cyclosporine (0.045%), tacrolimus (0.021%), or mycophenolate mofetil (0.035%; Neff et al.,
2008). Overall, the large number of treated psoriatic patients combined with relatively rare incidence of side effects suggests that blockade of the LFA-1 pathway may warrant further investigation for the prophylaxis of transplant rejection (Kitchens et al.,
2011b), in order to circumvent the nephrotoxicity and other side effects associated with current calcineurin inhibitor-based immunosuppressive regimens.
Other adhesion molecule pathways that have been targeted in order to overcome the memory T cell barrier include VLA-4, and adhesion molecule that is not expressed by naïve T cells and that is upregulated upon activation (Theien et al.,
2001). VLA-4 is critical for T cell entry into peripheral tissues (Kuchroo et al.,
1993) and has blockade of this pathway has been FDA approved for use in multiple sclerosis (natalizumab; Figure ). We recently showed in a murine model of experimental transplantation that treatment with anti-VLA-4 monoclonal antibodies synergized with costimulatory blockade in inhibiting allograft rejection mediated by donor-reactive memory T cells (Kitchens et al.,
2011a). While anti-VLA-4 failed to impact donor-reactive memory T cell expansion, cytokine secretion, or cytolytic function, it potently inhibited the ability of donor-reactive memory T cells to traffic into allografts (Kitchens et al.,
2011a). Furthermore, Kirk and colleagues recently reported the ability of CD2
hi T
EM cells to mediate CD28 costimulation blockade-resistant rejection, and subsequently targeted these cells using the CD2 adhesion molecule blocker LFA-3-Ig (alefacept; Weaver et al.,
2009; Figure ). When administered as part of a regimen consisting also of CTLA-4 Ig (CD28 blockade) and sirolimus (mTOR inhibition), CD2 adhesion molecule blockade resulted in renal allograft survival beyond the duration of treatment (>90

days) in five out of eight non-human primate renal allograft recipients (Weaver et al.,
2009). These results provided the experimental foundation for the translation of alefacept, which is currently FDA approved for use in plaque psoriasis, as an adjunct therapy to be used in combination with CD28 blockers such as belatacept to inhibit donor-reactive memory T cell responses in transplantation.
As discussed above, studies have shown that donor-reactive memory T cells are resistant to the effects of regulation (Yang et al.,
2007). However, recently published data have shown that the ability of memory T cells to mediate the early recruitment of neutrophils into transplanted allografts underlies their resistance to regulation (Jones et al.,
2010). Indeed, depletion of neutrophils from murine transplant recipients resulted in the ability of adoptively transferred T
reg to suppress the activity of donor-reactive memory T cells, resulting in long-term graft survival (Jones et al.,
2010). These results indicate that the ability of memory T cells to activate the innate immune system following transplantation is an important mechanism by which they facilitate graft rejection, and suggest that therapeutic manipulation of these innate immune components could be utilized in overcoming the memory barrier.