Proliferative responses of bronchoalveolar lavage lymphocytes from heart-lung transplant patients

Donor-specific alloreactivity of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) lymphocytes was evaluated in the immunologic monitoring of lung transplant patients. The study dealt with 161 BAL performed on 28 transplant recipients. Unseparated BAL cells, separated BAL lymphocytes, and PBL were tested for donor-specific proliferative responses in 3-day primed lymphocyte testing (PLT), and for nonspecific proliferative responsiveness to exogenous IL-2. The proliferation data were analyzed for correlation with the status of the lung allograft assessed clinically, histologically, and by pulmonary function testing. Positive PLT responses of BAL lymphocytes were observed in 20 of 22 acute rejection episodes (91%) and in 24 of 35 cases (69%) when chronic rejection was diagnosed. During clinical quiescence donor-specific proliferative activity was demonstrated in only 4 of 35 cases (11%). Thus, acute rejection and chronic rejection correlated significantly (P less than 0.001) with donor-specific PLT reactivity of BAL lymphocytes. Though significant association with rejection was observed for the alloreactivity of unseparated BAL cells and PBL, the sensitivity of the PLT test with these cells was significantly lower than that with BAL lymphocytes. Similarly, the IL-2 proliferative activity of BAL lymphocytes was significantly increased during acute and chronic rejection. However, this test had lower sensitivity and specificity than did the donor-specific PLT. These findings suggest the usefulness of the donor-specific PLT of BAL lymphocytes as a reliable method for monitoring pulmonary rejection.