Positive T-Cell Flow Cytometry Crossmatch...

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Positive T-Cell Flow Cytometry Crossmatch Is Linked to Liver Transplant Rejection

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WESTPORT, CT (Reuters) Nov 30 - A positive T-cell flow cytometry crossmatch (FCXM) is strongly predictive of acute allograft rejection (AR) in the month following living donor liver transplantation, according to a recent report.



Dr. Koji Takakura and colleagues, from Kyoto University in Japan, assessed the usefulness of T- and B-cell FCXM in 47 patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation.



Four of the five patients with a positive pre-transplant T-cell FCXM experienced AR compared with 16 of the 42 patients with a negative T-cell FCXM. In addition, the AR episodes in positive-test patients occurred significantly earlier than the episodes in negative-test patients (on day 8.0, on average, versus day 17.3). Higher doses of steroids were required to treat the AR episodes in positive-test patients.



Positive post-transplant T-cell FCXM strongly correlated with AR episodes in the first month after transplantation, the authors note in the October issue of Clinical Transplantation. Pre- and post-transplant B-cell FCXM results correlated poorly with the presence of AR.



Positive pre- and post-transplant T-cell FCXM results are strongly tied to AR in the first month following transplantation, the investigators conclude. Further studies are needed to clarify "the role of anti-donor T-cell antibodies in acute rejection in the chronic phase and in chronic rejection," they add.



Clin Transplant 2001;15:309-316.