Contributions and clinical significance of IgM and autoantibodies in highly sensitized renal allograft recipients.

Abstract

The contributions of auto and IgM antibodies in the levels of serologic reactivities of 30 highly sensitized patients were assessed by autologous T cell crossmatches at 4 degrees C and 22 degrees C and dithiothreitol (DTT) reduction of IgM antibodies. The range of panel reactivities of sera from these patients was 30-100%, median 55%. A monthly screen of these sera against a 30-member T cell panel was performed with and without addition of DTT (final concentration = 0.005 M). The results were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 consisted of 17 sera whose PRA values did not change following the DTT treatment. Also none of these sera had autoantibodies, suggesting that these sera contained DTT-resistant (IgG) antibodies, most likely directed against allogeneic targets. Group 2 consisted of 10 sera whose PRA values declined substantially (20-42%) following the DTT treatment, but only 1 serum derived from a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus had autoantibodies. These results suggested that although these sera contained IgM and IgG antibodies, these antibodies were most likely directed at allogeneic target structures with only one exception. Group 3 consisted of 3 sera that became completely unreactive to panel lymphocytes following the DTT treatment. All 3 sera had autoantibodies that were also removed with DTT, suggesting that these sera contained predominantly IgM antibodies directed at autologous target cells. All 3 patients from whom these sera were derived received successful kidney transplants across donor-specific positive T cell crossmatches that became negative following the DTT treatment. We conclude that although 13 out of 30 patients have IgM antibodies, only a small subset of these patients have autoantibodies. Renal transplantation in the presence of auto/IgM antibodies may be safe.