Reactions of kidney cells with cytotoxic antisera: possible evidence of kidney-specific antigens.

HL-A typing of cadaver kidney cell suspension by fluorochromasia cytotoxicity was successful in 76 out of 124 cases. In the 44 cases with confirmed phenotypes, 24 had identical results for lymphocytes and kidney cells. Twenty kidney cells had HL-A antigens not detected on that donor's lymphocytes, most commonly HL-A7 and HL-A8. In eight of these 20 cases, the additional kidney antigens brought the total to more than two per segregant sereis, in disagreement with an earlier report from this laboratory. The discrepancy was traced to a change in the method of complement preparation. The complement was successfully deprived of the resulting non-specific cytotoxicity for kidney cells by absorption with human red blood cells. Prior to absorption, the complement had rendered kidney cells susceptible to the lytic effect of anti-A and B red cell antibodies. Using the absorbed complement, a patient who had hyperacutely rejected two cadaver kidneys provided sera with an antibody reacting with, and absorbed by, the kidney cells but not the lymphocytes of the donors.