Abstract
The purpose of this study is to assess the correlation between lymphocyte mediated cytotoxicity and laboratory data in six patients with renal allografts, four of whom underwent thymectomy also. Cell mediated cytotoxicity against Hela cells as target is assayed after preparation of lymphocytes from the peripheral blood by Ficoll-hypaque method. Tests are conducted in microtest tissue culture plates according to the procedure described by Takasugi and Klein in 1970. Results are expressed by mean reduction per titer. In the group of patients who had run uneventful course after renal allotransplantation with standard immunosuppression, lymphocytes failed to demonstrate a potent cytotoxic effect, meanwhile survival of target cells was noticeably reduced by lymphocytes from patients who were suffering from any sorts of disorder such as acute and chronic rejection, toxic hepatitis, post surgical risk and so forth. The direction of reactivity that might be suppressed in the transplant recipients with thymectomy as adjunctive, gives rise to the possibility that this lymphocyte mediated cytotoxicity test reflects at least partly T-cell derived immunity.
