Association of anti-F(ab')2 antibodies with higher kidney transplant survival rates.
When the pretransplant sera of cadaver donor transplant patients were divided into 132 with anti-F(ab')2 (Fab) antibodies and 121 without anti-Fab antibodies, those patients with the antibodies had a 2-year graft survival rate of 59.7 +/- 4.6% (+/- SE) as compared with 34.0 +/- 5.0 % (+/- SE) for those without antibodies (P less than 0.001). This difference was greater when the patients were further classified by whether they had antibodies reactive to B lymphocytes in the cold. Patients with anti-Fab antibodies and B-cold antibodies had a 2-year graft survival of 81.3 +/- 9.8% as compared with 15.7 +/- 7.9% for patients without anti-Fab antibodies and with B-cold antibodies. We suggest that these anti-immunoglobulin antibodies may function in some immunoregulatory role. The number of transfusions was not directly related to the frequency of occurrence of these antibodies.
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001666:Binding Sites, Antibody; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003080:Cold Temperature; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments