Studies on IL-2 Production and T-Cell Colony Forming Unit in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

To elucidate the nature of altered cellular immunity seen in patients with chronic renal failure, the values of interleukin-2 (IL-2), a kind of lymphokine, and T-cell colony forming units were measured in controls (N=10), predialysis uremic patients (N=14), patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD, N=11) and patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD, N=9). Dialytic patients were selected as relatively stable cases receiving dialysis for more than 3 months. The duration of dialysis was 25.5±5.5 months in HD and 14.7±3.0 months in CAPD groups. The mean age was 30.3 years in the control, 36.1 years in the predialysis, 32.9 years in the HD and 41.1 years in the CAPD groups; all 4 groups showed male predominance. The serum creatinine concentration of each group was 1.2±0.1 mg/dl in the control, 14.1±0.9 mg/dl in predialysis, 13.5±1.3 mg/dl in HD and 14.7±0.9 mg/dl in CAPD groups. The level of IL-2 in the predialysis group was markedly lower compared to the control, HD and CAPD groups (as 3.1±0.8 unit vs. 8.8±2.2 unit, 11.8±3.0 unit and 14.9±3.4 unit, respectively, p<0.05); the difference between the control and dialytic groups was not statistically significant. The value of the T-cell colony forming unit in the predialysis group was far lower than the other 3 groups (as 427±69 colony/petri dish vs. 998±263 colony/petri dish in control, 1114±273 colony/petri dish in HD and 1369±372 colony/petri dish in CAPD groups, respectively, p<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference between the control and either HD or CAPD groups. In conclusion, the lymphokine productivity, as reflected by the level of IL-2 and the T-cell colony forming unit, seemed to be highly suppressed in predialysis uremic patients compared to control and dialytic patients. This result suggests that dialytic treatment tends to improve IL-2 productivity and T-cell colony forming unit, but further evaluations are needed to confirm these finding.