Clinical Significance of Anti-endothelial Cell Antibody in Renal Transplant Recipients

In order to evaluate the role of anti-endothelial cell antibody (AECA) in acute rejection in renal transplantation, serum AECA IgG titers were measured in 68 healthy controls, 111 chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients and 58 first renal transplant recipients. The AECA titer in hemodialysis patients was higher than in healthy controls (13.9 ± 5.0 vs. 4.8 ± 2.3 U/mL, p<0.01). In transplant recipients, AECA titers were not affected by dialysis mode (HD vs. CAPD vs. non-dialysis ; 9.6 ± 7.6 vs. 7.9 ± 3.9 vs. 11.9 ± 3.1 U/mL, p>0.05). After renal transplantation, AECA titer was decreased significantly (vs. 4.7 ± 3.6 U/mL, p<0.01). The serum AECA IgG titers increased significantly in recipients with acute rejection (6.9 ± 3.1 vs. 13.5 ± 9.9 U/mL, p<0.01), but decreased to 5.6 ± 3.0 U/mL (p<0.01) after formal rejection therapy. In the recipients with acute rejection (n=27), the pre-renal transplant AECA titer was higher than in that without acute rejection (14.0 ± 8.6 vs. 7.7 ± 3.8 U/mL, p<0.01). The results of this study lead us to conclude that pre- and post-renal transplant AECA titer might be a useful predictor for acute rejection and useful for monitoring acute rejection in renal transplant recipients.