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University of Wisconsin cold storage solution differs from Euro-Collins by the presence of adenosine, allopurinol, and hydroxyethyl starch, which maintains osmotic pressure. It is now experimentally and clinically well established that the use of UW solution is associated with better liver graft recovery parameters after prolonged cold ischemia time. However, it has been also suggested in animal experiments that HES might not be essential for optimal kidney preservation, at least when cold ischemia time remains within 48 hr. Herein, we present a randomized study comparing UW (n = 44) and a modified UW (UW-mod) (n = 44) solution lacking HES, adenosine, and allopurinol on kidney graft recovery parameters. Forty-one consecutive Euro-Collins flushed kidneys, transplanted immediately before this randomized trial, were used as historical controls. The results indicate that UW-mod was as efficient as UW in preserving the kidney in cold ischemia ranges that did not exceed 48 hr. Both solutions (UW and UW-mod) seemed more effective than Euro-Collins, based on the analysis of several parameters including the number of days until the creatinine was < 300 microM (P < 0.05), the level of the serum creatinine at one month (P < 0.02), and the Cockroft index (P < 0.04). Since UW-mod is three times less expensive than UW, we suggest that the simplified solution could be routinely used to preserve kidneys for transplantation.

We report here on a patient with a large granular lymphocyte proliferative disease who received a third kidney allograft. This patient presented a lymphocytosis (culminating at approximately 30,000/mm3) with a large proportion (approximately 70%) of CD3- WT31- CD2+ CD16+ lymphocytes. Five days after a kidney graft and during prophylactic treatment by Ortho pan OKT3, he presented an acute graft failure with an apparent interruption of graft blood flow as assessed by the Tc99 scan pattern and an arteriogram. The biopsy showed an abnormal accumulation of intravascular CD3- CD16+ cells bound to endothelial cells with thrombilike patterns in small and middle-sized arteries, whereas CD3+ mononucleated cells infiltrate was restricted to interstitium as observed in his previous graft, performed before the appearance of the lymphoproliferative disorder. The syndrome resolved spontaneously. The role of OKT3-mediated release of cytokines able to upregulate endothelial cell adhesion molecules in triggering this phenomenon is discussed.

Patients with end-stage renal failure secondary to idiopathic nephrotic syndrome are at risk of initial disease recurrence after kidney transplantation (30%). Selective proteinuria can appear immediately after transplantation and focal glomerular sclerosis with graft loss can occur in 10% of patients with recurrence. Current immunosuppressive protocols do not seem to influence the recurrence rate in adult patients and the efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchanges remains controversial. We have previously demonstrated that plasma exchanges, proposed early before glomerular sclerosis, were able to significantly reduce proteinuria without affecting albuminemia or glomerular filtration. We report here on three patients who suffered immediate recurrence after transplantation and were treated with plasma immunoadsorption onto protein A column (Excorim, Lund); these patients had prior histories of steroid-resistant focal glomerular sclerosis. This procedure is more specific than plasma exchange in that it cleared the serum of immunoglobulins, significantly decreased proteinuria in only two cases (from 14 to 5 g/d and 2.5 to 0.8 g/d) and eliminated it in the third case (from 3 to 0.1 g/d). The modifications of proteinuria levels appeared as early as the second immunoadsorption sequence and returned to pre-immunoadsorption values within 2 to 8 weeks. These observations argue for the protein A binding of plasmatic factor(s) involved in idiopathic, nephrotic syndrome and allow us to progress to the characterization of this(ese) factor(s).

The impact of a systematic, nondonor-specific, pregraft blood transfusion (BT) protocol was evaluated retrospectively in 446 consecutive, first renal transplant recipients with regard to graft survival rate, rejection, and incidence of infectious episodes. Cyclosporin A was the maintenance immunosuppressive treatment in all patients after a 2-week course of antithymocyte globulin or anti-IL-2 monoclonal antibody. Recipients were assigned to three groups according to the number of pregraft BT (one or two, three or four, or more than four). When nonimmunological failures were excluded from the study, patients receiving three or four BT had statistically better graft survival (P less than 0.02) and a lower incidence of rejection episodes (P less than 0.05) than those in the other groups. There were no significant differences between the three groups in the distribution of HLA mismatching (A, B and DR), time interval between the last BT and transplantation, DR6 recipient phenotype, or nonimmunological failures. Our results show that the number of pregraft BT is an important factor in transplantation.

Forty seven renal allografts performed over a period of 12 years in 43 recipients with chronic renal failure due to biopsy-proved focal glomerulosclerosis (FGS, 5.34% from 888 cadaveric renal transplantations) were reviewed. Recurrence of the disease was suspected in 14 grafts (29.8%) on the basis of immediate proteinuria, but recurrence of FGS lesions was demonstrated in only 7 patients. The remaining 7 patients had minimal-change nephropathy or mesangial hyperplasia. The duration of renal disease before transplantation was a clear predictive risk factor of FGS recurrence, and mesangial hyperplasia in the native kidneys was associated with 50% risk of FGS recurrence. Some reports have suggested that plasma exchange may be beneficial in the treatment of FGS recurrence. Our experience, in 9 patients, indicates that plasma exchange initiated early in the course of recurrent proteinuria leads to transient but significant disappearance (2 cases) or decrease (5 cases) of proteinuria, with a return to pre-plasma exchange levels within 2 weeks after the end of treatment. In 2 cases, there was no beneficial effect on proteinuria. Plasma exchange efficacy was correlated with proteinuria levels relative to disease severity. Although plasma exchange does not seem to improve the outcome of FGS recurrence, it demonstrates the possible presence of circulating factor(s) and argues for the characterization of humoral mediator(s).

Monoclonal antibodies are of growing importance in human organ transplantation in the prophylatic and curative treatment of cellular rejection. Among the pan T-lymphocyte monoclonal antibodies, OKT3 has been much studied, although clinical research is engaged with more selective targets of allorecognition and/or their consequences, for example monoclonal antibodies directed against the interleukin-2 receptor, adhesion molecules and CD4 molecules. We summarize the use of these monoclonal antibodies and bioreagents in clinical transplantation.

A murine IgG1 monoclonal antibody, 25-3 (Immunotech, France), directed against the alpha chain (CD11a) of the human LFA1 molecule was used in the treatment of 7 histologically documented first acute rejection in first kidney transplantations under cyclosporine. Four patients (group I) received 20 mg/day for 2 days and 10 mg/day for 8 days of 25-3 MoAb. One developed Quincke's edema after the first injection of 25-3 and was immediately withdrawn from the study. In 2 patients, whose serum creatinine continued to increase, 25-3 MoAb was replaced by steroids, followed by ALG after 3 and 4 days of treatment, respectively. In the last case, rejection was reversed by 25-3 MoAb alone. As the clinical response of rejection to 25-3 was poor, another group of 3 patients (group II) was treated with 25-3 at a dose of 40 mg/day for 2 days, 20 mg/day for 2 days, and 10 mg/day for 6 days, but 25-3 was still unsuccessful in reversing acute rejection, and rescue treatment was initiated between days 5 and 8 in all cases. MoAb tolerance was excellent in 3 patients. With the exception of the one case of Quincke's edema, only minor side effects were noted in the last 3 recipients. 25-3 MoAb serum trough levels peaked between 1.5-3.5 micrograms/ml at day 3 in group I and between 2-9 micrograms/L at day 2 in group II. Surprisingly, only one patient, in group I, exhibited a borderline IgG immune response against 25-3. These findings suggest that the 25-3 anti-CD11a MoAb is ineffective in controlling the course of acute rejection in kidney transplantation. However as already reported for another anti-LFA1 or with an anti-CD4 MoAb in mouse, 25-3 would be the first example in humans of a MoAb that does not elicit a strong immune response against its own determinants. This property might have important applications if 25-3 can prevent rejection in a prophylactic protocol or block the immune response against other MoAbs.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against the P55 component of the interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2-R) have been used to prevent allograft rejection in various animal models, including primates and man. This study compares the functional effects of seven MoAbs directed against the mouse IL-2-R P55 chain both in vitro using the mouse CTL-L2 cell line and in vivo in a sheep red blood cell-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity model. Data from in vitro studies showed that a cluster of four MoAbs (cluster I: 5A2, 125, 135 [IgG2a] and AMT13 [IgG2b]) competed with IL-2 for binding to the P55 chain and caused an inhibition of IL-2-induced proliferation on CTL-L2. The respective dissociation constants (Kd) of the four MoAbs were 1.1, 1.4, 2.5, and 5.5 nM, and they all displayed a common maximal binding capacity of 2 x 10(5) sites per cell on CTL-L2. None of these MoAbs were found to fix rabbit complement. The three other MoAbs (2E4: IgG2a, 7D4: IgM, PC61: IgG1) with respective Kd of 0.8, 0.2, and 0.85 nM and maximal binding capacities of 2 x 10(5), 4 x 10(5) sites per cell did not interfere with IL-2 binding and did not affect the IL-2-induced proliferation of the murine cell line. All three MoAbs were found to define three separate epitopic clusters independent of cluster I. Among them, only 2E4 induced a strong complement-mediated cytotoxicity. In vivo experiments showed that all MoAbs from cluster I were efficient in suppressing the DTH reaction and that the magnitude of their effect was consistent with their respective Kds. At a suboptimal dose of 1 microgram per day, the DTH inhibition indices were 40%, 43%, 23%, and 9% for 5A2, 125, 135, and AMT13, respectively. The 2E4 MoAb was found to be as efficient as cluster I MoAbs in suppressing DTH (53% inhibition at 1 microgram/day) while 7D4 and PC61 induced only a moderate inhibitory effect (37% inhibition for each MoAb given at 10 micrograms/day, compared with 70% inhibition for cluster I MoAbs). Taken together, our results indicate that blocking the IL-2/IL-2-R interaction without complement fixation is sufficient per se to attenuate the DTH reaction, and conversely that strong complement-mediated cytotoxicity in the absence of a functional effect in the IL-2/IL-2-R interaction is also effective in this system. Finally, no synergistic effect between MoAbs belonging to different clusters was evidenced in the DTH model.

In the last ten years the relationship between the presence of lupus type anticoagulants in the blood and some obstetrical complications, in particular spontaneous abortions, repeated fetal deaths in utero and intra-uterine growth retardation, has been well documented. A study of the literature shows that there were only twenty live-born children out of 280 pregnancies in 71 women who had the lupus type anticoagulant factor. The presence of the factor in high levels in a pregnant woman was seen to be of poor prognostic significance for the obstetric outcome. Biologically the lupus type circulating anticoagulant should be suspected when there is a five to six seconds prolongation of clotting time and it is highly suspicious if the time is prolonged by more than seven seconds. Its presence should equally be suspected by testing for the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). It has been shown that early treatment directed to lessen the activity of the lupus type factor (the use of corticoid-immunosuppressors) and forestalling as far as possible placental insufficiency (by giving heparin, aspirin and dipyridamole) could help, thus enabling some women to have live children who would not otherwise be able to do so.