Abstract

Acute rejection is a common phenomenon in kidney transplantation. Inflammatory and anti inflammatory mediators affect graft microenvironment and its outcome. In this study, we evaluated the role of programmed cell death 1 (PD.1) and ICOS gene polymorphisms in the outcome of kidney transplantation. Polymerase chain reaction -Restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method using restriction enzymes was performed to characterize ICOS-693A/G,PD-1.1A/G polymorphisms in 100 kidney transplanted patients. Acute rejection episodes were diagnosed according to standard protocol. Analysis of the results showed that PD.1.1 AA genotype was significantly more frequent (P = 0.0001) in patients with acute rejection and A allele was significantly more frequent (P = 0.006, OR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.09 - 0.82) in the patients without rejection. ICOS -693 AA genotype and A allele were significantly more frequent (P = 0.03, OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 0.85 - 22.46, P = 0.02, OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.19 - 0.96) in rejecting patients, respectively. The present results show that studied gene polymorphisms have predictive values for acute rejection after renal transplantation. Further studies with consideration of different aspects in a larger group of patients would be more elucidative.

Key words: Inducible costimulator (ICOS), programmed cell death 1 (PD.1), gene polymorphism.