Cell Stress Response in Rat Chronic Small Bowel Allograft Rejection

Background. We sought to assess the expression of five cell stress molecules: Heat shock protein (HSP)-60, HSP-70, interferon (IFN)-alpha, rat retinoic acid early induible-1 like transcript (RRLT), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) during rat chronic small bowel allograft rejection. Methods. A rat model of small bowel allograft rejection was induced on postoperative day 90 using F344 rat as donor and Lewis rat as recipient. Results. We demonstrated increased expression of lamina propria HSP-60 (mean rank grade 8.3 and 3.2, respectively), graft RRLT (relative mRNA amount 5.1 +/- 1.8 and 3.0 +/- 1.3, respectively) and IFN-alpha (relative mRNA amount 108.3 +/- 49.2 and 59.2 +/- 22.0, respectively) in allograft group compared with the isograft group. Conclusion. These data suggest the presence of cell stress during chronic small bowel allograft rejection.