Clinical Study HLA-G Polymorphism (rs16375) and Acute Rejection in Liver Transplant Recipients

Background. HLA-G molecules exhibit immunomodulatory properties that can delay graft rejection. The 14 bp insertion/deletion polymorphism (INDEL) (rs16375) influences the stability of final HLA-G mRNA and its soluble isoforms. Objective. The present study aimed to investigate the possible association between this polymorphism and the incidence of acute rejection in Iranian liver transplant recipients. Methods. Different genotypes were evaluated by PCR. The patients who had acute rejection within 6 months after transplantation were classified as acute rejection (AR) group, while others were considered as nonacute rejection (NAR) group. Results. Among the recipients, 21 patients (21%) had at least one episode of AR, while the other 79 patients (79%) had normal liver function. No significant differences were found between the two groups regarding sex, MELD score, and primary liver disease. Also, no difference was observed concerning rs16375 genotype and allele frequency ( = 0.44, OR: 0.69; CI: 0.21-2.10). Conclusion. The study results revealed no significant difference between the AR and the NAR groups regarding the 14 bp INDEL genotypes and alleles. Further studies are recommended to be conducted on other polymorphic sites as well as monitoring of serum HLA-G concentration in order to ascertain the potential implications of this marker in our population

Investigation of KCNJ11 Gene Variant (rs 5219) in Patients with Diabetes after Liver Transplantation

Background & Objective: The incidence of diabetes in liver transplant recipients is one of the common problems among these patients witha negative effect on the success of the transplant and the patient's life. Post Transplant Diabetes Mellitus (PTDM) has many similarities with type 2 diabetes from pathophysiplogical, clinical, and genetic viewpoints... One of the genotypes involved in PTDM is KCNJ11 (rs 5219) that has role in beta-cell function and has regulator effect on ATP sensitive K channels. The purpose of this study is to review the relation between this polymorphism and diabetes after liver transplantation in an Iranian population.Materials & Methods: This is a case-control study on 120 patients receiving liver transplant, including 60 patients with PTDM and 60 patients without PTDM. White blood cell samples were selected from the cell bank of organ transplantation research centre in Namazi Hospital from patients who had undergone liver transplantation during the years 2008 and2012. Frequency of genotypes in this population was determined by PCR-RFLP method. To express the results we used distribution indices and parametric statistical tests.Results: Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference between the genotype and the allele frequencies of the two groups of case and control.. KK genotype (P=0.001; 95%CI (1.60-7.6); OR=1.19 increases the risk of PTDM. Conclusion: Our study shows that there is a relation between the incidence of PTDM and sex, age, prednisolone dosage, KCNJ11 polymorphism, and KK genotype.