Alterations of the immune response with increasing recipient age are associated with reduced long-term organ graft function of rat kidney allografts1

BACKGROUND Clinically, an increasing number of older recipients are listed for transplantation. We examined recipient age-associated alterations of the immune response and their effects on graft function. METHODS Three- and 18-month-old Lewis (LEW) rats received kidneys from 3- and 18-month-old Fischer 344 (F344) rats (1.5 mg/kg/d cyclosporine A for 10 days; n=6/group) and were observed for 180 days. In additional groups, double kidney transplantations were performed to determine the impact of nephron mass and recipient age on graft outcome. RESULTS All young recipients but only 66% of old recipients survived the observation period. Increasing recipient age resulted in a significant decrease in renal allograft function (P