Clinical Significance of Serum Visfatin in Renal Transplant Recipients

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings 2018-10, Vol.50 (8), p.2398-2400
• Main Authors: Shu, K.-H., Chiu, H.-F., Wu, M.-J., Chen, C.-H., Yu, T.-M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cytokines - blood; Female; Graft Rejection - blood; Graft Rejection - immunology; Graft Rejection - mortality; Graft Survival - immunology; Humans; Kidney Transplantation - mortality; Male; Middle Aged; Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase - blood; Random Allocation
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2018.02.181

Chronic antibody-mediated rejection is the most common cause of late graft loss in renal transplant recipients. Visfatin is a pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor secreted by activated lymphocytes. We hypothesize that visfatin may play a role in the augmentation of B cell colonies and facilitate antibody-mediated rejection. Renal transplant recipients were randomly selected for the study. Fasting blood samples were obtained for the assay of visfatin. The participants were prospectively followed up for 3 years. A total of 146 patients were recruited for the study and were divided into 3 groups according to tertile of serum visfatin level. At the end of follow-up, 6 patients had graft loss, including 1 graft loss in tertile 1, 3 in tertile 2, and 2 in tertile 3 (P = .60). Fourteen patients experienced at least 1 episode of acute rejection, while 21 patients were diagnosed as having chronic rejection. The distribution of acute rejection was 10.2% in tertile 1, 10.2% in tertile 2, and 8.3% in tertile 3 (P = .94); chronic rejection occurred in 10.2%, 16.3%, and 16.7%, respectively (P = .59). We conclude that serum visfatin level was not correlated with either graft failure or patient mortality in a 3-year observation period. •Serum visfatin level is not correlated with either graft function or patient survival in renal transplant recipients.