Acute rejection and graft survival in renal transplanted patients with viral diseases

Transplanted patients are susceptible to viral infections; thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the features of acute rejections and the outcome of the renal graft in transplanted patients with herpes virus diseases. Renal biopsies from 30 renal transplanted patients undergoing early acute rejection (type IA and IB according to the Banff 97 classification) were evaluated. In total, 15 of these patients experienced cytomegalovirus (CMV) or Epstein–Barr virus disease within the first year following transplantation (group I) and 15 patients showed no evidence of viral infection (group II). No significant differences between the groups in terms of age, male/female ratio, living/cadaveric donor ratio, cold ischemia time, HLA A-B matching, pretransplant panel reactive antibody test, occurrence of post-transplant tubular necrosis, plasma levels of cyclosporin A and mean percent increase of serum creatinine at the time of the biopsy were observed. In group I biopsies, the mean number of interstitial plasma cells, as well as the mean number of CD79a-positive cells (B lymphocytes and plasma cells) was significantly higher than in group II (P<0.01 and <0.01, respectively). There was a positive correlation between the number of infections and the number of plasma cells (P<0.05). In transplanted patients, CMV can trigger the formation of anti-endothelial cell antibodies, which have been proposed to play a role in antibody-mediated rejections. We investigated whether a deposition of C4d, a marker of antibody-mediated reactions, was present in renal peritubular capillaries. In group I C4d deposition was found in five cases, while in group II it was not observed (P<0.05). In group I, 7/15 patients developed chronic allograft nephropathy vs 1/15 patients in group II (P<0.05). The estimated 1-, 5- and 8-year cumulative graft survival rates were 80, 66 and 57%, respectively, in group I, while in group II the estimated 8-year cumulative survival rate was 100% (P<0.05). In conclusion, acute rejection biopsies of patients with viral infections displayed plasma cell infiltrates and, in several cases, C4d deposition. Our study suggests a role of B lymphocytes in the pathology of these rejections and confirms the association between viral infections and poor graft survival.