Behavior of some parameters of humoral immunity in renal transplants after more than 3 years

: This paper evaluates the humoral immune response of 15 cadaver kidney transplant recipients more than three years after transplantation. The study was performed by determining immunoglobulin levels, complement fractions and circulating antigen-antibody complexes. The data obtained suggest that humoral immunity is impaired in patients who have undergone kidney transplant, even after more than three years later. The impairment of immunocompetence may be ascribed both to the immunosuppressive therapy (corticosteroids and azathioprine) and to the transplanted organ itself which represents a chronic antigenic stimulus.