Clinical role of Foxp3+regulatory T cell in Living donor related liver transplantation for prediction of life-threatening complications

Purposes : It is no doubt that regulatory T cells (Foxp3+CD4+CD25+T cells : Treg) play important roles in transplant immunity.We investigated the significance of Treg expression in acute stage of living donorrelated liver transplantation (LDLT) for the possibility of the sensitive marker for immunological state and homeostatic stress after liver transplantation. Methods : Peripheral blood was drawn from 5 recipients of LDLT preoperatively and on post operative 1, 4, 7, and 14 days. The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were stained with CD4, CD25, Foxp3, and were analyzed with FACScan. This data was compared with clinical output of LDLT. Result : The populations of Treg were significantly decreased in all patients on day 1 after LDLT and significantly increased in patients who had early postoperative complications compared with patients who had no complications. Conclusions : The population of Treg in peripheral blood may reflect the surgical stress such as life-threatening complications after LDLT.