Impact of hepatitis C on renal transplantation: a long-term study.

Viral hepatitis, especially "C" type (HCV), is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among recipients of renal transplants. In a retrospective long-term study, we reviewed 399 renal transplant patients (133F, 266M) who received 415 kidneys during the past eight-years. We evaluated their HCV infection and liver status.

TNFA2 and d2 alleles of the tumor necrosis factor alpha gene polymorphism are associated with onset/occurrence of idiopathic membranous nephropathy.

Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) has a strong association with the major histocompatibility complex HLA B8DR3(17)DQ2 haplotype. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)A gene is located within the major histocompatibility complex region on chromosome 6. We have studied the influence of two functional polymorphisms; the -308 (promoter region) and the TNFd microsatellites on initiation and/or progression of IMN.

CC-chemokine receptor five gene polymorphism in primary IgA nephropathy: the 32 bp deletion allele is associated with late progression to end-stage renal failure with dialysis.

The chemokine (CK) receptor 5 (CCR5) is necessary for two adjacent cysteines (CC)-CKs such as Regulated upon Activation Normal T cell Expressed and Secreted, a/o Macrophage Inflammatory Protein 1alpha/beta to mediate their inflammatory properties. The CCR5 gene polymorphism with 32-basepair deletion (d32) leads to receptor inactivation/dysfunction in homo/heterozygous individuals. We have evaluated its role in both initiation and/or progression of primary immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IGAN) in a case-control study involving a prospective cohort of 318 IGAN patients and a matched group of 294 controls.

Predicting glomerular filtration rate in kidney transplantation: are the K/DOQI guidelines applicable?

The kidney disease outcomes quality initiative (K/DOQI) guidelines introduced a classification of chronic kidney disease (CKD) based on the level of kidney function. In order to predict the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), they specifically recommended the use of the modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) study and Cockcroft-Gault (C-G) equations. Since the performance of these estimates has been questioned, we sought to determine whether these recommendations might be applicable in renal transplantation.

G protein beta3 subunit C825T polymorphism in primary IgA nephropathy.

Background: The T allele of the G protein beta3 subunit (GNB3) C825T polymorphism has been associated with increased signal transduction, increased activity of the kidney Na+/H+ exchanger, and also with late-onset essential hypertension. Hypertension is a strong independent risk factor for progression in IgA nephropathy (IgAN).

Methods: We have studied this polymorphism in a regularly followed cohort of 299 biopsy-proven incident cases of IgAN, collected from 1989 to 1999 [208 males (70%)] and compared the genotypes and alleles distributions to 303 local Caucasian controls matched for the male predominance (214 males).