Plasma suppressive activity and kidney graft survival

Abstract

Over the past few years many centres have shown that blood transfusions given to potential renal transplant patients are beneficial to subsequent graft survival. Results from this centre have shown that an elevated ability of plasma to suppress lymphocyte reaction to antigen is associated with blood transfusions in chronic renal failure patients. In a prospective study, plasma suppressive activity was measured at the time of transplantation in 49 patients who were followed for between 3 and 15 months. Results showed that patients with a low level of plasma suppressive activity were at risk from early graft loss due to acute rejection. Furthermore, most of the suppressive activity was related to the naturally occurring plasma protein, α2-macroglobulin. This prospective study reports a significant association between low plasma suppressive activity and early kidney graft loss through rejection, and suggests an explanation for the beneficial effects of blood transfusion on graft survival.