title: Pretransplant soluble CD30 is a better predictor of posttransplant development of donor-specific antibodies and acute vascular rejection than panel reactive antibodies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study tests a hypothesis that pretransplant concentration of soluble CD30 (sCD30) is a better predictor of posttransplant development of donor-specific HLA antibodies (DSA) and acute vascular rejection (AVR) than panel reactive HLA antibodies (PRA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Pretransplant sera from 115 patients were evaluated for their PRA and sCD30 concentrations. All patients received calcineurin-inhibitor based immunosuppressive therapy. Objective measurements for rejection were biopsy-proven AVR episodes within first 6 months of the transplant. Posttransplant sera of patients with or without AVR were tested for the presence of DSA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AVR rate was 16% (18/115). Patients positive for PRA and sCD30 tests were at significantly higher risk for AVR compared to those patients negative for both tests (36% versus 5%, p = 0.01). Among negative PRA patients risk for AR was significantly elevated if they were also tested positive for sCD30 concentrations (21% versus 5%, p = 0.04). Of the 18 patients with AVR, 14 were positive for sCD30, and 13 of them (93%) developed DSA posttransplant (p = 0.001) Nineteen patients without AVR were tested for DSA and sCD30 concentrations. Only two of these 19 patients were positive for sCD30 and DSA. AVR was strongly associated with the patients tested positive for both the tests: DSA and sCD30 (p = 0.00007). Furthermore, patients with AVR are more likely to produce DSA than those without AVR (p = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data support our hypothesis that patients positive for sCD30 contents are at high risk the development of DSA and AVR posttransplant regardless of their pretransplant PRA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA. svaidya@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Smita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vaidya
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Partlow
authors.forename: Titus
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gugliuzza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D017730:Ki-1 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D017730:Ki-1 Antigen