Background: Reduction of immunosuppression (IS) upon detection of Polyomavirus (BK) viremia is widely used to prevent BK virus nephropathy. This retrospective case-control study assesses the frequency of de novo donor-specific antibodies (dnDSA) in renal transplant recipients with IS modulation due to BK viremia and the associated risk of antibody mediated rejection.
Methods: Our cohort included recipients of kidney transplantation between 2007 and 2017 with clinical, HLA antibody, and biopsy data. BK positivity was defined as viremia >10 000 c/ml or biopsy proven BK nephropathy. A total of 190 BK cases matched our inclusion criteria, each case was matched with two controls based on gender, donor type, and transplant within 1 year (N = 396).
Results: Despite lower number of HLA antigen mismatches (mean = 3.5 vs. 4.4, p < .001), dnDSA rates were higher in BK cases than in control group (22.1% vs. 13.9%, p = .02), with the majority detected following IS reduction for BK infection, and arising earlier posttransplant compared with no BK infection (294d vs. 434d, p < .001). Antibody mediated rejection rates were similar between cases and controls (8.9% and 8.3%, respectively), but rejection was more likely to occur earlier posttransplant in the BK cases (354d vs. 602d, p = .03).
Conclusion: Our data suggest a link between IS reduction and the generation of dnDSA and/or rejection, supporting close monitoring for DSA in patients with reduced IS due to BK infection given their increased risk to develop dnDSA.
Keywords: BK virus; de novo DSA; immunosuppression modulation; renal transplantation.
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