Discovery of novel differentially expressed genes related to interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy among kidney transplantation recipients by mRNA-sequencing

Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) after kidney transplantation causes chronic deterioration of graft function. IF/TA can be diagnosed by graft biopsy; however, non-invasive diagnostic methods are unavailable. In this study, we identified IF/TA-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through next-generation sequencing using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) PBMC samples from kidney transplantation recipients under standard immunosuppressive therapy (tacrolimus/mycophenolate mofetil or mycophenolate sodium/steroid) and diagnosed as IF/TA (n = 41) or normal (controls; n = 41) at their 1-year protocol biopsy were recruited between January 2020 and August 2020. DEGs were derived through mRNA-sequencing.