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. Copyright © Blackwell Munksgaard 2005.