Connective-Tissue Disease and Rheumatoid Factors in Patients with Renal Transplants

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Abstract
AN impressive body of experimental evidence can be summarized by the statement that graft rejection is initiated by an immunologic process.1 Similarly, there is evidence that immunologic events may determine certain features of rheumatic disease in man.2 Furthermore, there are at least superficial resemblances between the graft-versus-host response and the generalized connective-tissue diseases.3 For these reasons, attention is naturally paid to the possible occurrence of connective-tissue alterations in patients harboring grafted tissues. Our interest in this problem was stimulated by the observation that certain patients with renal transplants had evidence of rheumatic disease and a change from negative to positive . . .