title: CD31+ naïve Th cells are stable during six months following kidney transplantation: implications for post-transplant thymic function.
abstract: Little is known about thymus function in transplant patients. Until recently, the phenotype of T cells that recently emigrated the thymus was unknown. Now it has been demonstrated that CD4(+) recent thymus emigrants coexpress CD31 and CD45RA. Here, we investigated whether uremia and immunosuppression influence CD31(+) CD45RA(+) Th cells before and after kidney transplantation, respectively. Forty-eight renal transplant patients were included receiving either standard triple/quadruple (n = 35) immunosuppression, OKT-3 induction (n = 7) or FTY-720 (n = 6), respectively. Peripheral CD31(+) CD45RA(+) Th cells were quantified flowcytometrically before and at week 1, 4, 12 and 24 post-transplantation. Thirty-nine healthy adults served as controls. CD31(+) CD45RA(+) Th cells correlated inversely with age in patients and controls and were comparable in patients before transplantation and age-matched controls. Importantly, CD31(+) CD45RA(+) Th cell frequencies remained stable during 6 months post-transplantation. In conclusion, CD31(+) CD45RA(+) Th cells are not significantly altered by uremia before and during 6 months of immunosuppressive therapy after kidney transplantation. Implications for thymus function are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Intensive Care, Campus Virchow, Charité-University Medicine Berlin, Germany. peter.nickel@charite.de
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kreutzer
authors.forename: Gantuja
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bold
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friebe
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmolke
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meisel
authors.forename: Jan Steffen
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jurgensen
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.forename: Klaus-Dieter
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Wernecke
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reinke
authors.forename: Hans-Dieter
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Volk
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014511:Uremia / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens