Combined use of myeloid-related protein 8/14 and procalcitonin as diagnostic markers for acute allograft rejection in kidney transplantation recipients.
The myeloid-related proteins 8 and 14 exist as a dimeric complex (MRP 8/14) and serve as early and highly specific markers for inflammatory processes, such as allograft rejection and non-viral (bacterial or fungal) infections. An elevated procalcitonin (PCT) concentration in serum also serves as a diagnostic indicator of non-viral infection. Therefore, by measuring both MRP 8/14 and PCT serum concentrations, one may be able to distinguish between acute allograft rejection and non-viral infections in non-rejection transplant recipients. Here, we investigated whether MRP 8/14 and PCT can function as prognostic (Study I) or diagnostic (Study II) markers for allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients. In Study I, the serum concentrations of MRP 8/14 and PCT during the first 2 weeks after transplantation did not differ between patients who did and did not suffer organ rejection within 1 year post-transplantation; these findings suggest that the MRP 8/14 and PCT parameters are not valid prognostic markers. However, in Study II, patients with acute rejection or non-rejection/non-viral infection groups displayed a significant increase in serum MRP 8/14 concentration, and non-rejection patients with non-viral infections only had elevation in the PCT serum concentrations. These results indicate that the combined use of MRP 8/14 and PCT serum concentrations can allow one to distinguish between allograft rejection and other inflammatory processes, such as infection.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D040501:Calgranulin A / Q000097:blood*; D040502:Calgranulin B / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D040501:Calgranulin A; D040502:Calgranulin B; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide