Rescue therapy with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil does not prevent deterioration of graft function in C4d-positive chronic allograft nephropathy.

Background: Humoral alloresponses may contribute to chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) in a subset of kidney transplant recipients. For chronic humoral rejection, the efficacy of rescue therapy with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil has been suggested.

Methods: Eleven recipients with C4d-positive CAN (index biopsy performed after a median of 3 years posttransplantation), who had been on cyclosporine A-based immunosuppression, were converted to tacrolimus, and if not part of basal therapy, to mycophenolate mofetil.

Lymphatic microvessels in the rat remnant kidney model of renal fibrosis: aminopeptidase p and podoplanin are discriminatory markers for endothelial cells of blood and lymphatic vessels.

ABSTRACT. Rat remnant kidney is an established model of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis and progression to end-stage renal failure. The morphologic lesions comprise nephron loss and regeneratory tubular hypertrophy, interstitial infiltration, predominately by macrophages, and progressive fibrosis.