NONSPECIFIC IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT SKIN CANCER

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Abstract
The immunocompetence of the following patient groups was compared using peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a variety of in vitro assays: controls (84); hemodialysis patients (32); kidney transplant recipients without cancer (172), and those with skin cancer (18). The in vitro functions assayed were blastogenic responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), pokeweed mitogen, allogeneic lymphocytes, and 2 cocktails of bacterial, viral and fungal antigens; cytotoxic functions assayed were spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity (SCMC) and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Compared with control subjects, hemodialysis patients showed depressed responsiveness to 1 antigen cocktail only. Transplant patients with no cancer showed uniformly depressed responsiveness to PHA and allogeneic lymphocytes and reduced SCMC and ADCC activity up to 12 yr after transplant; responsiveness in these patients to the 2 antigen cocktails, after initial depression, recovered by 3 yr after transplant to exceed control values. The group of 18 transplant recipients with skin cancer, when compared with transplant recipients with no cancer at a comparable period after transplant, showed similar depression of SCMC and ADCC activity, but significantly greater depression of responsiveness to PHA (P < 0.01), allogeneic lymphocytes (P < 0.05) and the 2 antigen cocktails (P < 0.05).

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