T-cell/periodic acid-Schiff stain: a useful tool in the evaluation of tubulointerstitial infiltrates as a component of renal allograft rejection

Abstract

Distinguishing between tubulitis and tubulointerstitial mononuclear cell infiltrates and determining the severity of tubulitis are critical components of diagnosing and grading renal allograft rejection using the 1993 Banff schema, the revised 1997 Banff schema, or the Cooperative Clinical Trials in Transplantation grading system. We describe a novel staining method, the T-PAS stain (CD3 and periodic acid-Schiff), which removes some of the subjectivity in the evaluation of tubulointerstitial infiltrates in renal allograft biopsies. The method simply combines two routine stains, immunoperoxidase staining for T cells (CD3) and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining for tubular basement membrane, on the same section.