Expression of BMP-2 in Vascular Endothelial Cells of Recipient May Predict Delayed Graft Function After Renal
Nikolina Basic-Jukic1, Marijana Gulin, Tvrtko Hudolin
1Department of nephrology, arterial hypertension, dialysis and transplantation, University hospital centre Zagreb, School of medicine University of Zagreb and School of medicine University of Osijek, Zagreb, Croatia.
Background/Aims:
Delayed graft function (DGF) is associated with adverse outcomes after renal transplantation. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is involved in both endothelial function and immunological events. We compared expression of BMP-2 in epigastric artery of renal transplant recipients with immediate graft function (IGF) and DGF.
Methods:
79 patients were included in this prospective study. Patients were divided in IGF group (64 patients) and DGF group (15 patients). BMP-2 expression in intima media (BMP2m) and endothelium (BMP2e) of epigastric artery was assessed by immunohistochemistry.
Results:
Lower intensity of BMP2e staining was recorded in DGF compared to IGF. In DGF patients, 93% had no expression of BMP2e and 7% had 1st grade expression, compared to 45% and 41% in IGF group, respectively (P=0.001) (P<0.001 for no expression and P = 0.015 for 1st grade expression). Patients who had BMP2e staining positive had lower odds for DGF (OR 0.059 [0.007, 0.477]) and this remained significant even after adjustment for donor and recipient variables, cold ischemia time, and immunological matching (OR 0.038 [0.003, 0.492]).
Conclusions:
Our results demonstrate that BMP-2 expression in endothelial cells of epigastric arteries may predict development of DGF.
