Cell-mediated immunity in patients on long-term haemodialysis

Several parameters of cell-mediated immunity were assessed in thirty patients with chronic renal failure treated with long-term haemodialysis. Lymphopenia was uncommon, and only two patients showed diminished numbers of thymus-derived peripheral blood lymphocytes. Skin test energy to three antigens was documented in only one patient. No serious infections with intracellular organisms were noted in any of the patients. Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) induced DNA synthesis in eleven patients was lower than that shown by normal subjects. This poor responsiveness to PHA was not corrected by haemodialysis, and in only two patients was the response improved by substituting normal human plasma for uraemic plasma in the lymphocyte cultures. Thus with the exception of PHA response, other parameters of cell-mediated immunity were intact in this group of chronic stable haemodialysis patients.