We studied intragraft gene expression profiles of positive crossmatch (+XM) kidney transplant recipients who develop transplant glomerulopathy (TG) and those who do not. Whole genome microarray analysis and quantitative rt-PCR were performed on RNA from protocol renal allograft biopsies in three groups: (1) +XM/TG+ biopsies before and after TG; +XM/NoTG; and negative crossmatch kidney transplants (control). Microarray comparisons showed few differentially expressed genes between paired biopsies from +XM/TG+ recipients before and after the diagnosis of TG. Comparing +XM/TG+ and control groups, significantly altered expression was seen for 2447 genes (18%) and 3200 genes (24%) at early and late time points, respectively. Canonical pathway analyses of differentially expressed genes showed inflammatory genes associated with innate and adaptive immune responses. Comparing +XM/TG+ and +XM/NoTG groups, 3718 probe sets were differentially expressed but these were over-represented in only four pathways. A classic accommodation phenotype was not identified. Using rt-PCR, the expression of inflammatory genes was significantly increased in +XM/TG+ recipients compared to the +XM/NoTG and control groups. In conclusion, pretransplant donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies results in a gene expression profile characterized by inflammation and cellular infiltration and the majority of +XM grafts are exposed to chronic injury.
Brain death and prolonged cold ischemia are major contributors to the poorer long-term outcome of transplants from deceased donor kidney transplants, with an even higher impact if expanded criteria donors (‘marginal organs’) are used. Targeting ischemia-reperfusion injury-related intragraft i...
During acute rejection of organ or tissue allografts T cells and macrophages are dominant infiltrating cells. CD4-positive T cells are important for the induction of allograft rejection and macrophages are important effector cells mediating cytotoxicity via production of nitric oxide (NO) by the ...
IL-33 administration is associated with facilitation of Th2 responses and cardioprotective properties in rodent models. However, in heart transplantation, the mechanism by which IL-33, signaling through ST2L (the membrane-bound form of ST2), promotes transplant survival is unclear. We report that...
IL-16 promotes the recruitment of various cells expressing CD4, a receptor for IL-16. The precise role of IL-16 in transplant rejection remains unknown; therefore, the present study investigated the contribution of IL-16 to the development of chronic rejection in heart transplants.MethodsC-H-2KhE...
Costimulatory blockade of CD28-B7 interaction with CTLA4Ig is a well-established strategy to induce transplantation tolerance. Although previous in vitro studies suggest that CTLA4Ig upregulates expression of the immunoregulatory enzyme IDO in dendritic cells, the relationship of CTLA4Ig and IDO ...
The MHC class I allochimeric protein containing donor-type epitopes on recipient-type heavy chains induces indefinite survival of heterotopic cardiac allografts in rats. We analyzed gene expression profile of heart allograft tissue. Mutated peptide [[alpha]1h1/u]-RT1.Aa that contains donor-type (...
The chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5 (CCR5) has been implicated in experimental and clinical allograft rejection. To dissect the function of CCR5 in acute and chronic renal allograft rejection, bilaterally nephrectomized WT and Ccr5-/- C57BL/6 mice were used as recipients of WT BALB/c renal allog...
Histologic evaluation of baseline kidney biopsies is an inconsistent tool to predict graft outcomes, which might be assisted by gene expression analysis.Methods. We evaluated 49 consecutive kidney graft biopsies obtained post-reperfusion in 18 deceased donors (DD) and 31 living donors (LD) at our...
Alloreactive memory T cells are present in virtually all transplant recipients due to prior sensitization or heterologous immunity and mediate injury undermining graft outcome. In mouse models, endogenous memory CD8 T cells infiltrate MHC-mismatched cardiac allografts and produce IFN-γ in respon...
Ischemia/reperfusion injury may have deleterious short- and long-term consequences for cardiac allografts. The underlying mechanisms involve microvascular dysfunction that may culminate in primary graft failure or untreatable chronic rejection.Methods and Results-Here, we report that rat cardiac ...
