title: The clinical significance of antibody to vascular endothelial cells after renal transplantation.
abstract: Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are considered to be a primary target for injury in allograft rejection. However, the relationship between serum antibody activity to ECs and rejection episodes has not been examined extensively in renal transplantation. Twenty-two renal transplant recipients were included in this study. Serum antibody activity to vascular endothelial cells (AECA) was measured using a cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in which human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human glomerular endothelial cells (HGEC) were preincubated with TNF-alpha used as target cells. Serum samples were obtained just before transplantation and once a week during the immediate 1-3-month post-transplantation period. There was a significant correlation between the presence of AECA against HGEC and rejection episodes (P < 0.05). Patients with multi-episodes of rejection showed significantly higher frequencies of AECA than patients with mono-episodic rejection (P < 0.0005). It should be noted that patients suffering from multi-episodes of rejection revealed higher AECA titres before transplantation. These findings imply that the HGEC-ELISA could be used as a prospective, informative test to identify patients with a higher risk of acute rejection in renal transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular Physiology, Institute of Nephrology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Testuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morioka
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Kota
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oite
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D016559:Tacrolimus