Pre‐ and post‐transplant sensitization in cyclosporin A‐treated patients

A study to test donor‐reactive antibodies in a large set of current as well as non‐current sera for reactivity against donor T and B lymphoid cells was performed and their correlation to transplant survival was studied. We found that earlier sensitization in kidney grafted patients, demonstrable as the presence of cytotoxic antibodies reactive with T and B cells or with B cells only in the pretransplantation period, is associated with significantly lower graft survival and more rejection episodes compared to patients without demonstrable antibodies. In addition, patients with viral infections develop autoantibodies.