Lymphocytes from multitransfused uremic patients have poor MLC reactivity.

Lymphocytes from uremic patients showed statistically significantly lower (P less than 0.01) MLC reactivity against pooled stimulator cells as compared with lymphocytes from age matched controls. A consistently low MLC reactivity was recorded in lymphocytes from patients who had received more than 20 units of blood and the lowest responses were seen with cells from patients with multispecific anti-HLA-antibodies. Removal of B cells and removal of phagocytic cells from the responder cells resulted in a significant (P less than 0.05) increase in MLC reactivity in the uremic but not in the control group. Both addition of enriched B cells to autologous enriched T cells and addition of adherent cells to non-adherent autologous cells caused a slight supression of MLC reactivity. PHA reactivity was lower (P less than 0.001) in lymphocytes from the multitransfused patients compared to cells from age matched controls. However, no difference in PHA responses were recorded between lymphocytes from uremic patients who had received less than 20 units of blood and controls.