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CD31 + Naïve Th Cells Are Stable during Six Months Following Kidney Transplantation: Implications for Post‐transplant Thymic Function
Author(s) -
Nickel Peter,
Kreutzer Stephanie,
Bold Gantuja,
Friebe Astrid,
Schmolke Kathrin,
Meisel Christian,
Jurgensen Jan Steffen,
Thiel Andreas,
Wernecke KlausDieter,
Reinke Petra,
Volk HansDieter
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2005.00924.x
Subject(s) - immunosuppression , medicine , transplantation , kidney transplantation , cd31 , kidney , uremia , immunology , endocrinology , urology , angiogenesis
Little is known about thymus function in transplant patients. Until recently, the phenotype of T cells that recently emigrated the thymus was unknown. Now it has been demonstrated that CD4 + recent thymus emigrants coexpress CD31 and CD45RA. Here, we investigated whether uremia and immunosuppression influence CD31 + CD45RA + Th cells before and after kidney transplantation, respectively. Forty‐eight renal transplant patients were included receiving either standard triple/quadruple (n = 35) immunosuppression, OKT‐3 induction (n = 7) or FTY‐720 (n = 6), respectively. Peripheral CD31 + CD45RA + Th cells were quantified flowcytometrically before and at week 1, 4, 12 and 24 post‐transplantation. Thirty‐nine healthy adults served as controls. CD31 + CD45RA + Th cells correlated inversely with age in patients and controls and were comparable in patients before transplantation and age‐matched controls. Importantly, CD31 + CD45RA + Th cell frequencies remained stable during 6 months post‐transplantation. In conclusion, CD31 + CD45RA + Th cells are not significantly altered by uremia before and during 6 months of immunosuppressive therapy after kidney transplantation. Implications for thymus function are discussed.