title: Graft-protective role of high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab autoantibodies: confirmatory evidence obtained in more than 4000 kidney transplants. The Collaborative Transplant Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preliminary studies showed an excellent success rate of kidney grafts in patients with high pretransplantation serum levels of IgA autoantibodies directed against the Fab region of the human IgG molecule.
  
  
  METHODS
  With the collaboration of 30 centers from around the world, we attempted to verify the role of IgA-anti-Fab autoantibodies in kidney transplantation in an entirely new series of 4316 cadaveric kidney transplants, with special consideration of presensitized and poorly HLA-matched recipients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In agreement with previously published preliminary findings, 147 recipients with a high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab of >1000 had a 2-year kidney graft survival rate of 88+/-3% (+/- SE), compared with an 80+/-1% rate in 851 recipients with a low IgA-anti-Fab of <60 (P = 0.02). Even in patients at an increased risk of graft rejection, high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab autoantibody activity was associated with superior graft survival. Among 815 presensitized patients, 31 had a high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab activity of >1000 and their 2-year graft survival rate was 94+/-4%, in contrast to a 71+/-4% rate in 165 presensitized recipients with a low IgA-anti-Fab of <60 (P = 0.02). Of 2294 recipients who received a kidney with > or =3 HLA-A+B+DR mismatches, 79 recipients had a high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab of >1000 and a 2-year graft survival rate of 90+/-4%, as compared with a 79+/-2% rate in 459 patients with a low IgA-anti-Fab of <60 (P = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study confirms that kidney graft recipients with high pretransplantation IgA-anti-Fab activity have excellent graft survival, and it extends this observation to presensitized recipients and poor HLA matches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation Immunology, Institute of Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Germany. caner_suesal@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Süsal
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Döhler
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Opelz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000209:etiology; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis*; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments