INCIDENCE OF ACUTE RENAL-TRANSPLANT REJECTION IN ATOPIC INDIVIDUALS

Background and Design: It is been shown that atopic individuals can ex hibit a T-cellular response (ie, ''late-phase reaction'') when exposed to relevant allergens and that they have more lymphocytes in an activ ated state. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate whether atopi c individuals could mount more frequent and more severe episodes of ac ute renal transplant rejection, a phenomenon that is also mediated by T cells. A 6-month retrospective study was conducted comparing episode s of acute renal transplant rejection in nine atopic patients and nine nonatopic patients. The atopic patients used in this study all had al lergic rhinitis. The hypothesis was that atopic individuals, who alrea dy have a proposed form of cell-mediated hypersensitivity to allergens , should also be able to experience more frequent and more severe epis odes of acute allograft rejection. Results: The atopic patients in thi s study were found to have more frequent episodes of acute renal trans plant rejection than the nonatopic group. In addition, they were found to have more severe episodes of rejection than the nonatopic group. C onclusions: In our study, we observed that atopic individuals are more likely to exhibit acute rejection phenomena after renal transplant. T hus, our study presumes that the T-cellular hypersensitivity reactions observed in atopic individuals are analogous to the T-cell-mediated a cute transplant rejection episode. The question of whether the same su bset of T cells is active in these two reactions still needs to be exp lored, and the T cells in question need to be further characterized. I n addition, the effect of immunosuppressive therapy on T-cell kinetics in atopic individuals needs to be further defined.