In-vitro steroid sensitivity in patients with chronic uraemia and renal transplantation: possible association with HLA phenotypes.

We studied in-vitro steroid sensitivity using the test of ADCC in 207 haemodialysed chronic uremic patients, 85 renal transplant patients, and 75 healthy blood donors as normal controls. The association of HLA phenotypes with the in-vitro steroid sensitivity was assessed. The proportion of steroid-sensitive subjects was significantly higher in the normal control group than in the patients. A significant association was observed between HLA B8 carriers and steroid resistance and between HLA DR6 carriers and steroid sensitivity.