The percentage of CD8α+ γδ T cells was significantly higher in CMV-act compared to CMV-neg patients on day 60 and 90 after RT. In CMV-neg patients, the level of CD8α expression remained stable over time; on the contrary, in CMV-act patients, we observed a transient increase in CD8α expression on day 90 compared to baseline (p<0.05). Moreover the percentage of CD8+ γδ T cells was increased also on day 60 and 90 compared to the observation times within the first month after RT (day 60 versus day 15: p<0.01, day 90 versus day 15: p=0.01, day 90 versus day 30: p<0.001). Mean ± SD; * p<0.05 versus CMV-neg.

Figure 4: CD8α expression on γδ T cells in in CMV-act (CMV +) and in CMV-neg (CMV -) patients in the first year after renal transplantion (RT), in normal controls (NC) and chronic dialyzed patients (DC).