Iron carrier proteins facilitate engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow and enduring hemopoietic chimerism in the lethally irradiated host

Cell-free supernatants of rabbit bone marrow were fractionated, separated, and purified by Ultrogel and Superose chromatography. A single fraction promoted engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow and enduring hemopoietic chimerism across the H-2 barrier in lethally irradiated mice. This “bio-active” fraction, analyzed by reducing SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, and transblotted on PVDF membrane, and purified by reverse-phase HPLC and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis yielded a main prealbumin band that when examined for primary structure by Edman degradation, proved to be rabbit transferrin. This was also attested by highly specific precipitation of the prealbumin band with polyclonal antibodies to rabbit transferrin. Iron-saturated human transferrin, lactotransferrin, and egg transferrin (conalbumin) were assayed in irradiated C57BL/6 mice infused with bone marrow from histoincompatible BALB/c donors. Mice treated with iron-loaded transferrins survive and develop enduring allogeneic chimerism with no discernible signs of graft-versus-host disease. Iron carrier proteins thus provide an unique means of achieving successful engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow in immunologically hostile murine H-2 combinations.