Cw. Yang et al., SERUM-SOLUBLE HLA CLASS-I ANTIGEN LEVELS IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS ANDFOLLOWING RENAL-TRANSPLANTATION, American journal of nephrology, 15(4), 1995, pp. 290-294
We measured the serum levels of soluble HLA class I antigen (sHLA-I) t
o evaluate the immune status of uremia and following renal transplanta
tion. Twenty-one hemodialysis (HD) patients had serum samples collecte
d for sHLA-I analysis before and after HD and also during the initial
posttransplant period. The serum sHLA-I levels in patients undergoing
HD were higher than in the normal controls (574.8 +/- 431.1 vs, 415.6
+/- 256.1 ng/ml, p < 0.05). In the HD patients, HD duration was not co
rrelated with serum sHLA-I levels (r = 0.01, p > 0.05), and pre- and p
ost-HD serum sHLA-I levels were not significantly different (574.8 +/-
431.1 vs, 568.3 +/- 398.4 ng/ml, p > 0.05), After successful renal tr
ansplantation, the serum sHLA-I levels decreased significantly (574.8
+/- 431.1 vs. 226.7 +/- 202.8 ng/ml, p = 0.0001) but increased signifi
cantly during the rejection period as compared to the prerejection per
iod (642.8 +/- 296.1 vs. 305.5 +/- 194.7 ng/ml, p = 0.0002). In conclu
sion, sHLA-I levels are stable in uremic status and can be used as a p
arameter for monitoring acute graft rejection in renal transplantation
.