Change and implication of plasma osteopontin levels in renal allograft rejection

Abstract

Objective To investigate the change and implication of plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels in renal allograft rejection.Methods The clinical data and biological samples of 46 renal transplant recipients were analyzed rerrospecnvely,including 16 patiens with stable allograft function and no evidence of biopsy-proved rejection (Non-R),22 patients with biopsy-proved acute cellular rejection (ACR),and 8 paients with biopsy-proved chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN).Six living related donors served as healthy controls (HC).Plasma OPN level was determined by using the human OPN ELISA kit.Type and grade of ACR were diagnosed based on Banff 03 classification criteria of renal allograft pathology.The plasma OPN levels were compared among different groups.The assistant diagnostic value of plasma OPN levels in differentiating rejection patients were also evaloated.Results The plasma OPN level in HC,Non-R,CAN and ACR groups was ( 12.23 ±5.95),(19.38±8.23),(27.77± 12.27) and (41.84± 18.51) μg/L,respectively.There was no significant difference in plasma OPN levels among HC,Non-R and CAN groups (P＞0.05),but the OPN levels in ACR group were decreased significantly as compared with Non-R and CAN groups (P＜0.05 ).OPN levels were positively correlated with Banff grading of ACR (P＜0.05).OPN levels were significantly different between grade Ia and grade IIb (P＜0.05).Conclusion The change in plasma OPN level has a relationship with acute rejection.Besides,the plasma OPN levels were also positively correlated with the severity of ACR.Monitoring plasma OPN levels should be useful in predicting and evaluating the severity of ACR in renal transplant recipients. Key words: Kidney transplantation; Osteopontin; Graft rejection