Eosinophilia and cellular cytokine responsiveness in hemodialysis patients.

Eosinophilia in hemodialysis (HD) patients has been associated with allergy to dialyzers and exaggerated activation of complement during HD. Its etiology, however, remains unknown. Complement activation can lead to cytokine production, and interleukin-2 (IL-2) administration has been shown to cause eosinophilia. Because abnormalities in cellular cytokine production in renal patients were previously demonstrated, the relationship between dialysis-associated eosinophilia and IL production in this HD population was studied. Twelve patients on chronic HD therapy with normal eosinophil counts (mean, 0.23 +/- 0.03 cells/nL) were compared with nine patients with eosinophilia (mean, 0.85 +/- 0.17 cells/nL). Measurements of cellular IL-1 and IL-2 production were performed before (pre) and after (post) HD with cuprammonium dialyzers. In patients with eosinophilia, stimulated cellular IL-1 production increased by 117 +/- 40% (P < 0.01) when post-HD measurements were compared with pre-HD values and IL-2 production increased by 127 +/- 65% (P < 0.05). In contrast, there was no difference in stimulated cellular cytokine production when values before and after HD were compared in patients without eosinophilia. Individual responses were reproducible during subsequent dialysis. It was concluded that cellular cytokine production in response to HD is not uniform. Eosinophilia is a clinically useful marker of exaggerated HD-associated cytokine production. Cytokine production depends on individual responsiveness and is probably related to atopy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)