Antilymphoid sera in clinical renal allotransplantation

Abstract

To the Editor:— From a clinical trial in renal transplantation of crude γ-globulin derived from horse antihuman lymphoid sera, Starzl and co-workers 1 have noted the unexplained occurrence of pain and tenderness at the site of intramuscular injection and the occurrence of fever. The reported methods of preparation of antilymphoid sera have varied considerably. For example, for experiments on mice Levey and Medawar 2 used thymic cells to immunize rabbits, each rabbit being given two injections of murine thymic cells. In contrast, to prepare sera for clinical use, Starzl and co-workers 1 employed an immunization schedule in which horses received at least four to six injections of human cadaveric lymphoid cells from lymph nodes, from thymus and spleen, or from splenic cells alone. After absorptions of the sera with human erythrocytes and kidney and liver tissues, Starzl and co-workers 1 precipitated the crude γ-globulin with ammonium sulfate, dialyzed it against tap