Pathologic characteristics of lymphangiogenesis in renal transplants and its clinical implication

Abstract

Objective:To investigate the pathologic characteristics of lymphangiogenesis in renal transplants and to analyze its clinical implication.Methods:The morphology and distribution of lymphangiogenesis were investigated by a biotin-streptavi- din horseradish-peroxidase method with anti-podoplanin monoclonal antibody in 45 archival biopsies.The lymphatic vessel densi- ty(LVD)was calculated and the results were compared between different pathologic types and with the normal renal tissues. Results:Fewer podoplanin-positive lymphatic vessels were identified in the biopsies from the renal transplants with normal func- tion,and the transplants had a similar morphological profile as normal renal tissues.More podoplanin-positive lymphatic vessels were observed in the transplants suffering acute rejection episode;the vessels mainly located around peripheral arteriole with dif- ferent lumen sizes.Transplants with chronic rejection had the most podoplanin-positive lymphatic vessels with focal mononuclear infiltration and distended/distorted lymphatic vessels.The lowest mean LVD(1.26±0.27)was observed in the biopsies from transplants with normal function,which was significantly different from those in the acute rejection and chronic rejection groups (P0.05).The highest mean LVD was found in the chronic rejection group(20.76±5.30),which was significantly higher than those of the other 2 groups(P0.01);no significant difference was observed between the transplants with normal func- tion and the normal kidney.Conclusion:Lymphatic neoangiogenesis occurs in the renal transplant and its pathologic characteris- tics differs in the transplants with different rejection types.