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We attempted cessation of prednisone therapy in 16 pediatric renal allograft recipients who were between the ages of 3/2and 16 years at the time of transplantation. Fourteen had primary grafts and 2 had second grafts. Nine had cadaver and 7 had living-related donor grafts. At the time of cessation of prednisone, cyclosporine was the only other immunosuppressive therapy for 15 of the patients and 1 patient was receiving CsA and azathioprine. All the patients had stable serum creatinines at the time prednisone was stopped, between 7 months and 5 years posttransplantation.

The Eichwald-Silmser phenomenon (rejection of male skin graft by isogenic females of certain strains) and the sexual dimorphism in the anti-A antibody production are demonstrated to be unrelated. These studies show no A-like antigenic activity on tissues of C57BL/10 males. While anti-B production is induced in both males and females with one injection, males require a large dose in primary immunization or secondary immunization to produce anti-A antibody and the titers are always lower than in the females. It is proposed that the difference between males and females in the spontaneous production of anti-A-like agglutinins is attributable to genetic control of this immunological response.