Recipient HLA-G +3142 CC Genotype and Concentrations of Soluble HLA-G Impact on Occurrence of CMV Infection after Living-Donor Kidney Transplantation

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2017-11, Vol.18 (11), p.2338
• Main Authors: Guberina, Hana, Tomoya Michita, Rafael, Dolff, Sebastian, Bienholz, Anja, Trilling, Mirko, Heinemann, Falko M, Horn, Peter A, Kribben, Andreas, Witzke, Oliver, Rebmann, Vera
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cytomegalovirus; Donors; Genotype & phenotype; Histocompatibility antigen HLA; HLA-G 3′UTR Polymorphisms; Human leukocyte antigen-G; Immunosuppression; Infections; Isoforms; Kidney transplants; Kidneys; Living Kidney Transplantation; Polymorphism; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Transplantation; Transplants & implants
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms18112338

The expression modulation of the immunosuppressive non-classical Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) molecule and its soluble isoforms is an immune evasion strategy being deployed by cytomegalovirus (CMV). The +3142 C>G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located within the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) is of crucial importance for the regulation of HLA-G expression. Therefore, we analyzed the influence of the +3142 C>G HLA-G SNP on the occurrence of CMV infection in a cohort of 178 living-donor kidney recipients and their 178 corresponding donors. In addition, soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) levels were quantified before and after transplantation. The presence of the HLA-G +3142 CC genotype in recipients, but not donors of our cohort as along with elevated sHLA-G levels (≥ 6.1 ng/mL) were associated with higher susceptibility to CMV infection after transplantation. Our results provided evidence that i) HLA-G is implicated in the establishment of CMV after living-donor kidney transplantation and ii) recipient HLA-G +3142 CC genotype and sHLA-G concentration levels could represent important predictive risk markers for CMV infection.