Pretransplant Detection of Anti-Endothelial Cell Antibodies Could Predict Renal Allograft Outcome

Abstract

Objectives: Endothelial cells that line the vasculature are targets for immune-mediated assault through anti-endothelial cell antibodies. The aim of this work was to detect anti-endothelial cell antibodies and describe the association with kidney allograft rejection and graft survival.

Materials and Methods: The study included 60 patients who had undergone live-donor kidney transplant. Inclusion criteria included first kidney transplant, panel reactive antibody titer less than 5%, cause of end-stage renal disease not including vasculitis or systemic lupus erythematosus, and age > 18 years. Patients were classified into 2 groups: 40 patients with anti-endothelial cell antibodies (referred to as the positive group) and 20 patients without anti-endothelial cell antibodies (referred to as the negative group).

Results: Serum creatinine level was higher in the positive group at 1 month and 1 year (P = .04). The occurrence of acute rejection was not significantly different in the positive group (18 patients [45.0%]) compared with the negative group (5 patients [25.0%], P = .5). However, the number of acute rejection episodes was higher in the positive group (22 episodes) compared with the negative group (6 episodes, P = .04). In patients who experienced acute rejection, chronic nephropathy was more frequent in the positive group (6 of 18 patients, 33.3%) compared with the negative group (1 of 5 patients, 20.0%) (P = .03). One-year and 5-year graft survival was 91% and 79% in the positive group, and 100% and 91% in the negative group, respectively. The difference at 5 years was significant (P = .04).

Conclusions: The presence of anti-endothelial cell antibodies was associated with a higher number of acute rejection episodes and lower long-term graft survival in kidney transplants. It could be an informative test to identify patients at high risk for immunological graft loss.