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-2d and H-2b, respectively). Infusion of 10(7) (C57BL/Ka x Balb/c)F1 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.