In vitro immune functions in patients with minor, moderate, and severe kidney impairment.

We examined the in vitro immune response of lymphocytes from 86 non-dialyzed patients with progressive renal failure and 48 healthy control subjects by comparing the production of interleukin-2, the mitogen-induced proliferative response and sensitivity to glucocorticoid of lymphocyte cultures. The patients were divided in three groups with minor, moderate, and severe uremia. The uremic lymphocyte responses to stimulation with concanavalin A (Con A) were significantly lower than those of control lymphocyte cultures. A similar but not significant decrease was also seen in phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen stimulated cultures. There was no trend towards diminishing mitogen responses with decreasing renal function. The median interleukin-2 activity in the uremic cell cultures was decreased by 50% during the culture period but the decrease was not significant. However, PHA and Con A stimulated lymphocyte cultures from all groups of patients were significantly more sensitive to the immunosuppressive effect of methylprednisolone. Thus an increased sensitivity to the immunosuppressive effect of glucocorticoid can be demonstrated in vitro at an early stage of progressive renal disease.