Impact of ABO Incompatibility on the Development of Acute Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Kidney Transplant Recipients Presensitized to HLA

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 21;10(4):e0123638. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123638. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Whether the coexistence of anti-A/B antibody and donor specific anti-HLA antibody (HLA-DSA) has a synergistic impact on the development of acute antibody-mediated rejection (AAMR) in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) is unclear. This study includes 92 KTRs who received a kidney from an ABO-incompatible (ABOi) donor or were presensitized to donor HLA (HLAs) and 292 controls (CONT). HLAs was defined as a crossmatch positivity or the presence of HLA-DSA. We compared the incidence of AAMR among ABOi (n = 58), ABOi+HLAs (n = 12), HLAs (n = 22), and CONT (n = 292) groups and evaluated the risk factors and antibody type (anti-A/B vs. HLA-DSA) responsible for AAMR. AAMR developed less frequently in ABOi and CONT than in the ABOi+HLAs or HLAs (P < 0.05 for all); however, there was no difference between the ABOi+HLAs and HLAs groups. AAMR developed more frequently with strong HLA-DSA at baseline; however, high baseline anti-A/B titer did not affect AAMR development. Strong baseline HLA-DSA was an independent predictor for AAMR, however the baseline anti-A/B titer was not. All four AAMR episodes in ABOi+HLAs were positive to HLA-DSA but not to anti-A/B. In conclusion, ABO incompatibility does not increase the risk for AAMR in HLAs KTRs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • ABO Blood-Group System / immunology*
  • Adult
  • Antibodies / physiology
  • Female
  • Graft Rejection / blood*
  • Graft Rejection / immunology
  • Graft Rejection / mortality
  • HLA Antigens / immunology
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Kidney Transplantation
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Risk Factors

Substances

  • ABO Blood-Group System
  • Antibodies
  • HLA Antigens

Grants and funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NRF-2013R1A1A1009718) and the Catholic Medical Center Research Foundation made in the program year of 2014. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.