Association of vitamin D receptor FokI and ApaI polymorphisms with human cytomegalovirus disease in the first three months following kidney transplantation

Background Untreated human cytomegalovirus （CMV） disease （CMVD） is an identified risk factor for reduced rates of patient （and graft） survival, death or retransplantation in kidney transplant recipients due to increased immunological tolerance after transplant. Vitamin D receptor （VDR） gene polymorphisms have an obvious relationship with autoimmune diseases but the relationship between VDR gene polymorphisms and CMVD are not well understood. This study investigated the relationship between VDR Fokl and Apal gene polymorphisms and CMVD, and their value for predicting risk of CMVD. Methods Ninety-eight kidney transplantation recipients were randomly chosen for which peripheral blood samples and case histories for the first three months after kidney transplantation were obtained. Using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms, 30 recipients were found to be homozygous for the Fokl gene （FF）, 47 heterozygous （FI）, and 21 were homozygous （f/）. Likewise, similar analyses determined that 12 recipients were homozygous for the Apal gene （AA）, 36 heterozygous （Aa）, and 50 homozygous （aa）. Factors affecting the prognosis of the kidney transplantation were compared for all genotypes by statistical analysis before operation. Infection by CMV for all recipients was detected by immunofluorescence assay to diagnose CMVD. Results No statistical significance was observed for the factors affecting the prognosis of the kidney transplantation between both genotypes; however, statistical differences in CMVD among the Fokl genotypes were identified. It was determined that the risk of CMVD was significantly increased for recipients of the ff genotype than for other genotypes. There was no statistical significance observed for CMVD among Apal genotypes. Conclusions The recessive f allelic gene of VDR can be regarded as a risk factor of CMVD while FF recipients have lower incidence of CMVD after kidnev transolantation. Aoal aenotvoes showed no relationshio with oredisoosition to CMVD.

Endothelial cell chimerism by fluorescence in situ hybridization in gender mismatched renal allograft biopsies

Background The blood vessels of a transplanted organ are the interface between donor and recipient. The endothelium in the blood vessels is thought to be the major target for graft rejection. Endothelial cells of a transplanted organ can be of recipient origin after transplantation. In this study, we tested whether endothelial chimerism correlated with the graft rejection and cold ischemia. Methods We studied the biopsy samples from 34 renal transplants of female recipients who received the kidney from a male donor for the presence of endothelial cells of recipient origin. We examined the tissue sections of renal biopsy samples by fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） for the presence of endothelial cells containing two X chromosomes using a biotinylated Y chromosome probe and digoxigenin labelled X chromosome probe, and then analyzed the relationship between the endothelial cell chimerism and the rejection and cold ischemia. Results Endothelial chimerism was common and irrespective of rejections （P〉0.05）. The cold ischemic time of chimerism group was longer than no chimerism group （（14.83±4.03） hours vs （11.27±3.87） hours, P〈0.05）. Conclusions There is no correlation between the percentage of recipient endothelial cells in vascular endothelial cells and the type of graft rejection. The endothelium damaged by ischemic injury might be repaired by the endothelial cells from the recipient.