Effect of haemodialysis on immune response

Uraemia depresses immune response by altering cellular reactivity to mitogenic and antigenic stimulation. One might expect that amelioration of uraemia by dialysis would improve immune responses. We have investigated the effect of haemodialysis on in-vitro parameters of cellular immunity. Our data suggest that haemodialysis leads to loss of a factor or factors from both uraemic and normal plasma essential for DNA synthesis. Our data do not suggest that measurements of celluar immunity are useful in monitoring adequacy of haemodialysis in chronic uraemic patients.