The impact of donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies on late kidney allograft failure

Despite improvements in outcomes of renal transplantation, kidney allograft loss remains substantial, and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and costs. Identifying the pathologic pathways responsible for allograft loss, and the attendant development of therapeutic interventions, will be one of the guiding future objectives of transplant medicine. One of the most important advances of the past decade has been the demonstration of the destructive power of anti-HLA alloantibodies and their association with antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR). Compelling evidence exists to show that donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSAs) are largely responsible for the chronic deterioration of allografts, a condition previously attributed to calcineurin inhibitor toxicity and chronic allograft nephropathy. The emergence of sensitive techniques to detect DSAs, together with advances in the assessment of graft pathology, have expanded the spectrum of what constitutes ABMR. Today, subtler forms of rejection-such as indolent ABMR, C4d-negative ABMR, and transplant arteriopathy-are seen in which DSAs exert a marked pathological effect. In addition, arteriosclerosis, previously thought to be a bystander lesion related to the vicissitudes of aging, is accelerated in ABMR. Advances in our understanding of the pathological significance of DSAs and ABMR show their primacy in the mediation of chronic allograft destruction. Therapies aimed at B cells, plasma cells and antibodies will be important therapeutic options to improve the length and quality of kidney allograft survival. Loupy, A. et al. Nat. Rev. Nephrol. 8, 348-357 (2012); published online 17 April 2012; doi:10.1038/nrneph.2012.81