The effect of random blood transfusions on immunoglobulin production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from uraemic patients.

The effect of blood transfusion on humoral immunity in chronic renal failure was studied by examining immunoglobulin production in vitro, in patients awaiting renal transplantation. Pokeweed mitogen (PWM) induced IgG plaque formation was normal in non-transfused uraemic patients while both spontaneous and Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SAC) induced immunoglobulin production were reduced. Five to ten units of third party blood transfusion reduced PWM-driven B cell differentiation, but had no effect on SAC-induced plaque formation, while spontaneous production of immunoglobulin was either enhanced or unaffected. As it is known that the response to SAC is less affected by suppressor T cell activity than that to PWM, these differences in the inhibitory effects of blood transfusion on B cell differentiation are further evidence that transfusion may act by increasing suppressor T cell activity.