Reduction of lymphocyte proliferation by human plasma has been previously reported. Reduced activation of lymphocytes of patients on immunosuppressive drugs is well documented.

Aim: To compare the effect of transplant recipients' plasma and healthy controls' plasma on lymphocyte activation.

Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were separated from the blood samples of healthy controls and kidney transplant patients on cyclosporine, sirolimus, and tacrolimus based regimens by density gradient centrifugation, cells were counted and incubated overnight with and without phytohemagglutinin(PHA). The luciferin-luciferase enzyme reaction which induces bioluminescence and the Turner Biosystem luminometer were used to measure intracellular ATP levels in relative light units (RLU) and converted to ng/ml using an ATP standard curve. Chi-square test using Instat 3 program (Graphpad^R)was used to compare results.

Results:

PHA stimulation of PBMC from healthy individuals produced a 47% increase ATP production. The ATP increase is reduced to 14% when normal plasma was added (p<0.05). However, when normal plasma was replaced by patient plasma, the ATP increase was reduced only to 31%. Similar difference between patient and control plasma was recorded when using PBMC from transplant patients.

Conclusion. Plasma isolated from patients on immunosuppressant drugs and more so plasma from healthy controls contain factors which suppress the response of lymphocytes to PHA stimulation. Resulting from this study, we propose that selected plasma with the greatest potency could be evaluated for immunosuppression in transplantation such as part of anti-rejection treatment. Furthermore, factors responsible for the overall inhibitory role of plasma on T cells, need to be elucidated.

CITATION INFORMATION: Assounga A, Omarjee S. The Inhibitory Effect of Plasma on T Cell Activation: Possible Role of Plasma Exchange in Anti Rejection Therapy. Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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