The impact of non-HLA factors on renal graft survival

Several non-HLA factors such as, age, sex, blood group, and cytomegalovirus (CMV) carrier state of both the donor and the recipient are known to influence renal allograft survival. In a retrospective study on 150 living related donor renal transplant patients, we evaluated the effect of the above mentioned factors on graft survival. Patients were divided into two groups, according to immunosuppression protocols. Group 1 (n=120) patients were on triple therapy with cyclosporin-A, azathioprine and prednisolone whereas those in Group 2 (n=30) were on conventional therapy with azathioprine and prednisolone. In Group 1, the patients aged 45 years (P < 0.06). Sex of neither the donors nor the recipients affected graft survival. Patients with blood group B had poor graft survival among Group 2 patients (P < 0.05). However, the patients with blood group B in Group 1 had significantly superior graft survival rates than the patients with the same blood group in Group 2 (P < 0.01). No significant difference in the graft survival rates was found between the two groups in relation to other blood groups. Also, there was no significant difference in the graft survival of the CMV negative and the CMV positive (IgG) recipients in both the study groups.