WEDNESDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- A newly identified donor factor, an allotype of the C3 complement molecule, may be associated with better long-term outcomes for patients who receive cadaveric kidney grafts, according to a study in the May 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Katherine M. Brown, M.Sc., of King's College London, Guy's Hospital in London, U.K., and colleagues identified the C3 allotypes of 662 pairs of adult kidney donors and recipients from 1993 through 2002 and compared the related C3F/S polymorphism status to demographic and clinical outcome data.
After analyzing 513 pairs of white donors and recipients, the researchers identified 113 C3S/S recipients of a C3S/F or a C3F/F kidney and 179 C3S/S recipients of a C3S/S kidney, and found that "graft survival was significantly better with a C3F/F or C3F/S donor allotype than a C3S/S allotype," the report indicates. They calculated a hazard ratio of 2.21 for graft loss of C3S/S kidneys compared with C3F/F or C3F/S kidneys. They also found that graft function of C3F/F or C3F/S donor kidneys was significantly better than that of C3S/S donor kidneys.
"The effect of the single-mutation polymorphism described in the context of the study by Brown et al. may contribute to global allograft survival, but as yet the full clinical implications remain to be defined," state the authors of an accompanying editorial.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial
