University of Pittsburgh researchers report that a simple blood test appears to do a better job than the widely used panel reactive antibody (PRA) test in predicting which transplant patients are at higher risk for acute organ rejection.

The test, known as enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), indicates if a patient has specific antibodies that are trained to fight the presence of foreign antigens, the researchers said.

Reporting at the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation annual meeting, the researchers said that when they performed ELISA on 36 pediatric heart transplant patients, it indicated 10 of 36 patients as susceptible to rejection. Five of the 10 subsequently suffered severe acute rejection episodes.

Four of the five who suffered severe acute rejection had not been identified by the conventional PRA method, the researchers said.

In a similar study involving 75 adult lung transplant patients, six of 14 who were ELISA positive developed persistent, acute rejection, the researchers said.

Dr. Alin Girnita, a transplant immunology post-doctoral fellow, said that since ELISA can identify lung transplant recipients at high risk for persistent and recurrent cellular rejection, it may also help identify patients at risk of chronic rejection.

Other sources: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center