Antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity of lymphocytes in patients with renal diseases of immunopathological origin.

Antibody dependent cytotoxicity (ADCC) of lymphocytes from twenty-two patients with histologically proven chronic glomerulonephritis and eight patients with SLE nephropathy was studied in a xenogeneic assay on chicken red blood cells and in an allogeneic test system using Rh(+) human erythrocyte targets. ADCC activity of the lymphocytes of patients with chronic glomerulonephritis did not differ from that of normals, while all patients with SLE nephropathy showed significantly lower cytotoxicity than healthy controls. The possible role ADCC in the pathogenesis of renal diseases of immunopathological origin is discussed.