The role of the thymus in the maintenance phase of tolerance in miniature swine

Purpose: We have shown that transplantation of a heart and kidney, but not a heart alone, into an MHC class I disparate recipient with 12 days of cyclosporine (CyA) led to the establishment of tolerance, which reliably prevented lesions of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Additionally, if the was removed during the maintenance phase, long after the induction of tolerance, lesions of CAV developed thereafter. In the current protocol, we examined the role of the in the maintenance phase of tolerance induced by heart/kidney cotransplantation.