The number of circulating recent thymic emigrants is severely reduced 1 year after a single dose of alemtuzumab in renal transplant recipients

Summary To better understand the kinetics of the delayed reconstitution of peripheral CD4+ T-cells after depletion with a single administration of alemtuzumab (AL) for renal transplantation, we evaluated in these patients the percentage and absolute number of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) CD4+ T cells, together with naive and memory subsets, defined by the analysis of CD31, CD45RA and CCR7 expression, and compared with patients treated with a nondepleting protocol based on basiliximab, and with healthy controls. In AL-treated patients, the number of circulating CD4+ T cells was greatly reduced 1 year after the infusion (P