title: ABO-compatible liver allograft antibody-mediated rejection: an update.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Liver allograft antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) studies have lagged behind parallel efforts in kidney and heart because of a comparative inherent hepatic resistance to AMR. Three developments, however, have increased interest: first, solid phase antibody testing enabled more precise antibody characterization; second, increased expectations for long-term, morbidity-free survival; and third, immunosuppression minimization trials.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two overlapping liver allograft AMR phenotypic expressions are beginning to emerge: acute and chronic AMR. Acute AMR usually occurs within the several weeks after transplantation and characterized clinically by donor-specific antibodies (DSA) persistence, allograft dysfunction, thrombocytopenia, and hypocomplementemia. Acute AMR appears histopathologically similar to acute AMR in other organs: diffuse microvascular endothelial cell hypertrophy, C4d deposits, neutrophilic, eosinophilic, and macrophag-mediated microvasculitis/capillaritis, along with liver-specific ductular reaction, centrilobular hepatocyte swelling, and hepatocanalicular cholestasis often combined with T-cell-mediated rejection (TCMR). Chronic AMR is less well defined, but strongly linked to serum class II DSA and associated with late-onset acute TCMR, fibrosis, chronic rejection, and decreased survival. Unlike acute AMR, chronic AMR is a slowly evolving insult with a number of potential manifestations, but most commonly appears as low-grade lymphoplasmacytic portal and perivenular inflammation accompanied by unusual fibrosis patterns and variable microvascular C4d deposition; capillaritis can be more difficult to identify than in acute AMR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More precise DSA characterization, increasing expectations for long-term survival, and immunosuppression weaning precipitated a re-emergence of liver allograft AMR interest. Pathophysiological similarities exist between heart, kidney, and liver allografts, but liver-specific considerations may prove critical to our ultimate understanding of all solid organ AMR.
authors.affiliation: aDivision of Transplantation, Department of Pathology, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bAnnette C. & Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Demetris
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zeevi
authors.forename: Jacqueline G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: O'Leary
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000276:immunology*; D064591:Allografts; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D010641:Phenotype; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System