Monocytes/macrophages in kidney allograft intimal arteritis: no association with markers of humoral rejection or with inferior outcome

Background. Several studies indicate that interstitial and intracapillary monocytes/macrophages (MO) represent a significant proportion of graft-infiltrating cells in renal allografts and that their presence may unfavourably affect clinical outcome. Much less is known about the role of MO in vascular rejection of transplanted kidneys. The aim of our study was to determine the cellular composition of immune cell infiltrates in intimal arteritis and to analyse whether it is associated with features of humoral immunity and impaired graft survival. Methods. In 34 recipients with vascular rejection, we determined the proportion of intimal and interstitial MO and T-cells (expressed as ratio of CD68- and CD3-positive cells) in immunohistochemically double-labelled slides. Results. Intimal arteritis is always composed of T-cells and MO with a median CD68/CD3 ratio of 1.03. In 47% of cases, however, T-cells predominate (CD68/CD3 ratio