Chronic rejection in renal transplantation

Abstract

With renal transplantation, chronic rejection is currently the most prevalent cause of late transplant failure. Clinically, chronic rejection presents as chronic transplant dysfunction, characterized by a slow loss of function, often in combination with hypertension and proteinuria. Transplant glomerulopathy and multilayering of the peritubular capillaries are highly characteristic for chronic rejection. Risk factors have been identified and include young recipient age, black race, presensitization, histoincompatibility, and acute rejection episodes, especially vascular rejection episodes and rejections that occur late after transplantation. Chronic rejection develops in grafts that undergo intermittent or persistent damage from cellular and humoral immune responses resulting from indirect recognition of alloantigens. Progression factors such as advanced donor age, renal dysfunction, hypertension, proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, and smoking play an important role. At the tissue level, senescence conditioned by ischemia/reperfusion may contribute to the development of chronic rejection. The most effective option to prevent renal failure from chronic rejection is to avoid graft injury from both immune and nonimmune mechanism together with nonnephrotoxic maintenance immunosuppression.