Chronic allograft dysfunction: major contributing factors.

Chronic, progressive, and irreversible loss of a transplanted kidney function, previously named chronic allograft nephropathy, is the leading cause of chronic allograft failure among kidney transplant recipients. Chronic allograft dysfunction (CAD) is a multifactorial process associated with progressive interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy. Current Data confirms that an additive series of time-dependent immunological factors such as acute and chronic antibody- and/or cell-mediated rejection and nonimmunological factors are involved in development of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy as the fundamental parts of CAD.