University of Miami Team Confirms Value of Monitoring Cell-Mediated Immunity Pre- and Post-Transplant in Management of Kidney Transplant ...( New data presented at annual Amer...),Health

New data presented at annual American Transplant Congress in Toronto

MIAMI, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Manuel R. Carreno, MD, and colleagues in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology at the University of Miami - Lawrence Miller School of Medicine have corroborated the value of monitoring cell- mediated immunity (CMI) post transplant in recipients of kidney transplants using a regular laboratory assay of cell function (ImmuKnow(R)/Cylex). Their paper, entitled "Immune monitoring with Cylex ImmuKnow(R) in the management of post kidney transplant recipients," will be presented on June 2 at the annual meeting of the American Transplant Congress in Toronto, Canada.

"The production of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) by mitogen-stimulated peripheral CD4+ T-cells using the ImmuKnow assay has previously be shown to have utility in the management of several forms of organ transplantation," stated Dr. Carreno, "In this study, we wanted to learn whether the ImmuKnow test data correlated with data from other tests and clinical findings in patients undergoing kidney transplantation." Dr Carreno is the Assistant Director of Flow Cytometry and Cell Analysis in the University of Miami Transplant Laboratories.

Patients undergoing kidney transplantation were immunosuppressed post-transplant and their immunosuppressed state was maintained with a combination of tacrolimus (Prograf(R)) and low-dose steroids. A total of 2,096 specimens were drawn from 339 transplant patients, and additional samples were provided by normal controls. Levels of CMI, as measured in terms of levels of ATP, were measured using the ImmuKnow assay and categorized according to the tests labeling: "low" (<225 ng ATP/mL), "moderate" (225-525 ng ATP /mL) and "strong" (>525 ng ATP /mL).

Several patterns of ATP level over time were noted in the patients and in the normal controls, as follows:

-- The mean level of CMI for blood samples from normal controls (n = 20)'/>"/>