Long-Term Survival of Skin Allografts in Mice Treated with Fractionated Total Lymphoid Irradiation

Treatment of recipient Balb/c mice with fractionated, high-dose total lymphoid irradiation, a procedure commonly used in the therapy of human malignant lymphomas, resulted in fivefold prolongation of the survival of C57BL/Ka skin allografts despite major histocompatibility differences between the strains (H-2 d and H-2 b , respectively). Infusion of 10 7 (C57BL/Ka × Balb/c)F 1 bone marrow cells after total lymphoid irradiation further prolonged C57BL/Ka skin graft survival to more than 120 days. Total lymphoid irradiation may eventually prove useful in clinical organ transplantation.