Molecular changes in kidney allografts after simultaneous liver-kidney compared with solitary kidney transplantation

The aim of this study was to investigate correlations between early subclinical findings (10 and 90 day histology and gene expression data) and late outcomes (transplant glomerulopathy and graft loss) in positive crossmatch kidney transplants (+XMKTx). Our goal was threefold: first, to confirm that intragraft molecular changes at 12m post-transplant are associated with the observed histologic changes in SLK transplant recipients, compared with KTA transplant recipients; second, to ascertain whether specific molecular pathways/markers that are not accounted for by routine histology are differentially expressed in the kidney allografts of the SLK transplant recipients; and third, to determine whether a molecular signature that is uniquely associated with simultaneous liver transplantation can be identified in kidney allografts. Biopsy samples were from positive and negative crossmatch simultaneous liver-kidney transplant recipients (12 month protocol biopsies) were compared to control patient (positiive and negative crossmatch) biopsies obtained at 12 months.