Clinical Significance of Donor-specific Anti-HLA Antibodies Monitoring in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Monitoring of immune response is one of the most important goals in the management of the patients after kidney transplantation. Researchers and clinicians are trying to extend the survival of the renal graft. Currently, it is believed that the main cause of late transplant loss is antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR). Anti-HLA donor-specific antibodies (DSA) are a proven risk factor for the development of humoral rejection and transplant loss. Antibodies in sensitized recipients occur before transplantation (preformed) or may develop de novo (in 13% -30% of patients).

DSA damage the graft in various mechanisms (complement activation, direct influence on endothelial cells, antibody-dependent cytotoxicity) leading to different clinical-morphological phenotypes. The pathogenicity of DSA is determined by number of their additional characteristics, such as: class, specificity, strength, C1q complement binding, IgG subclass . Monitoring the presence of DSA in the kidney recipient serum with the determination of their characteristics may improve the stratification of the risk of immunological loss of the renal allograft.

There is no effective treatment for ABMR, hence DSA monitoring allows for early intervention such as biopsy or modification of immunosuppressive therapy at an early stage of rejection.