Biliary neopterin for differentiation between liver allograft rejection and viral graft infection

Differential diagnosis between rejection and infection of a liver graft still represents a major problem. Rising concentrations of neopterin in serum or urine sensitively indicate rejection or infectious complications after renal, cardiac or bone marrow transplantation. Neopterin has been shown to be even more sensitive when measured locally, e.g. in the pancreatic juice of patients after pancreas allotransplantation. In the present study, we measured urinary and, for the first time, biliary neopterin concentrations in nine liver allograft recipients during the early post-transplant period.