Minimal sensitization and excellent renal allograft outcome following donor-specific blood transfusion with a short course of cyclosporine.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
UNLABELLED: A new protocol of donor-specific blood transfusion under cyclosporine coverage was developed and examined for immunologic consequences and clinical efficacy in recipients of one- or zero-HLA-haplotype-matched renal allografts. Between 1985 and 1989, 75 recipients were transfused with 100 ml of stored whole blood at 1, 8, and 15 days of its storage from either one-HLA-haplotype-matched related donors (n = 65, 33 from their parents, 30 from siblings, and 2 from offspring) or from zero-HLA-haplotype-matched donors (n = 10, 7 from spouses and 3 from siblings). During DST, all recipients received cyclosporine, 6 mg/kg/day, starting a day before and finishing a week after DST (23 days). Recipients were monitored by donor-specific mixed lymphocyte culture responses before and after DST, and serially for antibodies by fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis and by standard complement-dependent lymphocytotoxicity assay. Following DST with CsA, only 3 of 75 patients (4%) were sensitized against the blood donor. This rate is considerably lower, albeit statistically not significantly, compared with the 10% rate found in 30 recipients who had received DST without CsA in our previous study. Repeat MLC studied one to two months after DST (the day before transplant) were significantly increased compared with pre-DST (stimulation index: mean +/- SEM; 10.3 +/- 1.4 to 15.8 +/- 2.8, P = 0.004, and relative response: 40.9 +/- 5.1% to 49.8 +/- 5.5%, P = 0.003). Since the stimulation index with controls did not change after DST (23.4 +/- 2.9 to 26.2 +/- 3.3), enhanced MLC responses appear to be donor-specific. The changes in MLC responses did not correlate with the number of blood transfusion received prior to DST, the number of rejection episodes, or graft outcome. Fifty-seven recipients underwent a kidney transplant from their one-HLA-haplotype-matched blood donors within two to three months after DST. All 10 recipients of zero-haplotype-matched donors were also successfully transplanted from their respective blood donors. The graft survival rates were at least 90% at two years in both groups. IN CONCLUSION: (1) 100 ml of stored whole-blood DST, three times at weekly intervals with a short course of CsA is minimally sensitizing but effective in enhancing graft survival; (2) this protocol could be used in donor-recipient pairs who do not share a haplotype; and (3) DST with CsA elicits augmentation of donor-specific MLC responses.
