Serial measurement of nonspecific immune parameters in chronically hemodialyzed renal failure patients.

Nonspecific immune monitoring of the percentage active T (A-T) rosette-forming cells (RFC) and spontaneous blastogenesis (SB) appear to be useful indexes of host reaction toward allografts. In order to assess the significance of the observed changes, renal failure patients were serially evaluated before and after hemodialysis for the percentage of total T (T-T) and A-T RFC and for peripheral blood leukocyte metabolic activity measured by a whole blood spontaneous blastogenesis (SB) assay. Renal failure patients had a significantly lower (P less than 0.05) percentage of T-T RFC than normal persons, while the percentage A-T RFC and SB remained stable. A hemodialysis treatment did not change the mean values of any of the three parameters. On the other hand, serial patient evaluation over 3 months revealed significant fluctuations in the percentage T-T RFC, but not the percentage A-T RFC and SB. Since the percentage A-T RFC and SB are relatively constant measures of immune status in ungrafted patients, significant changes in these nonspecific immune probes may reflect allograft rejection.