Soluble endothelial cell protein C receptor and thrombomodulin levels after renal transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Both thrombomodulin (TM) and endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) are candidate biomarkers of endothelial damage and have a role of anti-thrombotic defense mechanism in vascular structure. In this study, we aimed to investigate soluble EPCR (sEPCR), soluble TM (sTM) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels in hemodialysis (HD) and renal transplant (RTx) recipients.


METHODS
Twenty-seven RTx recipients and 15 HD patients were recruited to the study. RTx recipients were evaluated before and 3 months after transplantation. Plasma sEPCR, sTM and TNF-alpha levels were measured at baseline and 3 months later in both groups. Moreover, 27 healthy subjects were evaluated regarding sEPCR.


RESULTS
At baseline, there was no difference in sTM, sEPCR, TNF-alpha and C-reactive protein (CRP) between the groups. In paired analysis, sEPCR (266 ± 132 to 117 ± 72 ng/ml), sTM (635 ± 165 to 100 ± 41 ng/ml) and TNF-alpha (11.2 ± 4.3 to 6.0 ± 3.5 pg/ml) were significantly decreased in RTx patients (P < 0.0001) at 3 months, while there was no change in the HD group. In the healthy subjects, sEPCR was found to be 79 ± 26 ng/ml at baseline, which was lower than in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
We showed that the recently proposed endothelial damage biomarkers, sTM and sEPCR, are elevated in HD patients and significantly decrease after kidney transplantation.
Department of Nephrology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ibni Sina Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. keven@medicine.ankara.edu.tr
Kenan
K
Keven
Semiha
S
Elmaci
Sule
S
Sengul
Nejat
N
Akar
Yonca
Y
Egin
Volkan
V
Genc
Sehsuvar
S
Erturk
Bulent
B
Erbay
D000328:Adult; D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000097:blood*; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D018180:Thrombomodulin / Q000097:blood*
D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D018180:Thrombomodulin; C091963:activated protein C receptor