Epstein-Barr-virus-specific T-cell memory in renal-allograft recipients under long-term immunosuppression.

The level of long-term responsiveness of cytotoxic T cells to Epstein-Barr (EB) virus has been measured in peripheral-blood mononuclear-cell cultures from symptom-free renal-allograft recipients under conventional immunosuppression. 8 of 22 patients showed a profoundly impaired responsiveness when compared with health control donors. The allograft recipients as a group showed raised antibody titres to EB-virus capsid and early antigens, but within the group there was no clear relation between these antibody titres and the level of EB-virus-specific cytotoxic-T-cell function. These findings are particularly relevant to the pathogenesis of the malignant lymphomas to which renal-allograft recipients are unusually susceptible, in view of the evidence implicating EB virus.