Human leukocyte antigen–C in short- and long-term liver graft acceptance

Abstract

In liver transplantion, rejection is still an important problem, and the role of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) has not been clearly established. At present, the possible involvement of HLA-C antigen in liver transplantation is still unexplored. The aim of this work was to analyze the influence of HLA-C polymorphism on the outcome of liver transplantation. For this purpose, genotyping of 100 orthotopic liver transplant recipient-donor pairs for HLA-C was performed with polymerase chain reactionsequence-specific primers (PCR-SSPs). Liver recipients were stratified according to the occurrence of acute rejection. Patients without acute rejection were found to have a lower frequency of the HLA-Cw*06 allele compared with those with acute rejection or the control group. Moreover, when the role of HLA-C dimorphism was analyzed, natural killer (NK)1-alloantigens were found to be predominant in recipients without acute rejection. When the match of HLA-C single alleles and NK-alloantigens between donor and recipient was analyzed, it appeared that the frequency of acute rejection gradually decreased with decrease of the number of allele mismatches. Graft survival was increased when the number of mismatches in both HLA-C or NK-alloantigens was lower. In conclusion, the HLA-C locus may play a role in liver graft alloreactivity or allotolerance and, therefore, may be useful to avoid acute rejection and to achieve graft acceptance, resulting in a better final outcome in liver transplantation. (Liver Transpl 2003;9:218-227.)

Impact of Recipient HLA-C in Liver Transplant: A Protective Effect of HLA-Cw*07 on Acute Rejection

“…Indeed, this effect appears independent of HLA-AϩBϩC class I mismatching, as well as from the most frequent liver diseases, as well as age and gender (data not shown). The present data partially agree with those previously obtained by us in a shorter series of liver transplants [14], and appear to support the influence of the liver recipient's HLA-C genotype in the early success of the liver graft. However, they do not definitely confirm the previously suggested deleterious effect of the HLA-Cw*06 allele for liver graft acceptance.…”

Impact of HLA-C and Bw Epitopes Disparity on Liver Transplantation Outcome

“…Moya-Quiles et al [37] demonstrated that OLT recipients without acute rejection episodes had fewer HLA-Cw*06 alleles than those with acute rejection episodes, or the controls, and also observed that the frequency of acute rejection episodes decreased when there were fewer HLA-C mismatches. The same group reported that graft survival rates increased when there were fewer mismatches in both HLA-C and NK alloantigens [38]. In our cohort of OLT patients, there was no significant difference in survival between those with and without NK alloreactivity potential.…”

Human Leukocyte Antigen-C Genotype and Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptor-Ligand Matching in Korean Living Donor Liver Transplantation

“…There have been conflicting reports on the impact of KIR genes and KIR-ligand matching in LT [910111213]. KIR-ligand mismatches might induce recipient NK alloreactivity toward the liver allograft, resulting in a negative effect on the graft.…”

“…Previous studies utilized several KIR models such as KIR gene-gene mismatch, HLA-C genotype mismatch, and KIR-ligand mismatch for donors lacking ligands for inhibitory KIR, which present in recipients [589]. In liver transplantation (LT), previous studies reported the impact of HLA-C allotypes on acute rejection (AR) and graft survival [910111213], but some studies demonstrated no effect on graft outcomes [14]. In addition, most previous studies for HLA-C, KIR genotypes, or KIR-ligand matching in LT do not report Asians as a separate group, and no data has been acquired previously for Korean liver transplants.…”