Immunologic Heterogeneity Among Potential Transplant Recipients: Prospects for Predicting Immune Responses to Allografts with In Vitro Tests

Abstract

The ability to accurately predict the response of a specific patient to a specific organ allograft has long been a goal of organ transplantation. The role of histocompatibility antigens in determining the acceptance or rejection of an allograft-recipient combination has been thoroughly investigated, but is being reevaluated as improved immunosuppressive agents become available. Early efforts at immunologic monitoring are reviewed in addition to more recent efforts that focus on the cellular and molecular mediators of immunity. The authors' own experience with lymphokine measurements in clinical transplantation is also reviewed, with emphasis on the role of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and its soluble receptor (IL-2R) in various transplant-associated conditions. The authors conclude that information useful in the management of transplant patients may be derived from serial measurements of IL-2 and IL-2R, but that infections, especially CMV, may not be ruled out with certainty by these measurements alone. The available data suggest that study of additional lymphokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) may be useful in discriminating rejection from infections in transplant patients.