Lack of association of human renal allograft rejection and circulating K-cell, NK-cell, or total T-cell levels

Abstract Thirty-three recipients of cadaveric renal allografts and four living-related allografts were serially monitored at weekly intervals for natural killer (NK)-cell, effector-cell (K) activity in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and daily total circulating T-lymphocyte (TCTC) levels. Rabbit anti-human thymocyte globulin (ATG) was shown to have a dramatic suppressive effect on all three immune parameters in most of the patients (>90%) studied. Patients experiencing rejection episodes during the first 60 days post-transplant did not express increased levels of any parameter compared to seven non-rejecting patients when measured pretransplant or after 2 and 4 weeks post-transplant. Furthermore, increased early levels were not associated with an increased frequency of rejection episodes. Values of each of these parameters measured during clinical rejection were shown not to be significantly elevated when compared to values determined at identical times post-transplant in recipients who experienced no rejection episodes during the initial 60 days following grafting. Similar comparisons made 3, 2, and 1 week prior to rejection episodes also failed to reveal a significant elevation of any parameter in advance of rejection. Thus, NK-cell, K-cell, and TCTC levels do not appear to be associated with rejection phenomena and are of limited clinical usefulness in monitoring renal allograft recipients.