[Bactericidal activity of plasma and leukocytes in patients after kidney transplantation]

In renal transplant patients the plasma and leukocytes bactericidal activity was estimated towards the vivid bacterial cells of the standard strain of Staphylococcus aureus Oxford 209P. Considering the kind of the immunosuppression used, the patients were divided into two subgroups. The first subgroup comprised the patients treated with cyclosporin A and prednisone (12 persons) and the second one--the patients treated with azathioprine and with prednisone (19 persons). The control group consisted of 20 healthy persons. In the renal transplant patients significantly more bacterial cells survived the incubation with plasma and peripheral blood leukocytes and the reduction of bactericidal activity of the leukocytes alone was also found. The reduction of bactericidal activity of the peripheral blood leukocytes observed in the patients of the group tested may have resulted from the inefficient microbicidal systems of those cells. The kind of the immunosuppressive treatment did not seem to affect the bactericidal activity of the leukocytes and plasma examined in the renal transplant patients peripheral blood. It may be supposed that the increased susceptibility of those patients to bacterial, viral and mycotic infections is due in part to the reduced bactericidal capability of the peripheral blood leukocytes.