Homing of CD8CD57 T lymphocytes into acutely rejected renal allografts

This study compares the cellular events in excised rejected renal allografts (RKT), with concurrent data in the peripheral blood (PB) in the same patients. The kidney transplants were obtained from recipients after rejections crises that were refractory to treatment. Two-color flow cytometry data was used for quantitation of cell subset profiles and quantitation of the density of individual lymphocyte surface antigen(s). The level of CD3DR-positive T cells in RKT was significantly higher than in PB. This difference ranged from 3 to 19-fold increases. There was an even more pronounced increase in CD8CD57 cell subset levels in RKT versus PB. In parallel with these findings, there was a 15-fold greater mean density of the CD8CD57 markers on T cells in RKT, when compared with the same cells in PB. The density of CD8 and of DR markers on CD3+ cells was also significantly higher (4-fold in each instance) in RKT. These data point to a homing of CD8CD57 cells with corresponding increases in the density of these markers in acutely rejected renal allografts, with only a relative decrease of this cell subset in peripheral blood. The appearance of a high preponderance of CD8CD57 cells in the renal allograft at the time of a rejection crisis may constitute a particularly severe prognostic sign regarding the reversibility of the response after treatment with steroids and/or monoclonal antibodies.