Prevalence of Antibody against Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor (AT1R) Among Thai Kidney Transplant Patients.

BACKGROUND: Non-HLA antibodies specific to angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R-Ab) are associated with antibody-mediated rejection after kidney transplantation. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of AT1R-Ab among pre-transplantation Thai patients and to compare the association of patient demographics with AT1R-Ab levels.

METHODS: This cohort study enrolled nonsensitized kidney transplant patients with negative panel reactive antibodies at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. AT1R-Ab level was measured with the use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit in all pre-transplantation serum samples with the use of a cutoff of >17.0 U/mL to distinguish AT1R-Ab+ from AT1R-Ab at risk and AT1R-Ab- groups.

RESULTS: In all, 70 patients were enrolled with a mean age of 45 (range, 17-68) years, of which 52 were male. Six patients (8.6%) were positive for AT1R-Ab (>17.0 U/mL). The mean age in the AT1R-Ab+ group was lower than in the AT1R-Ab at risk and AT1R-Ab- groups (P = .06). Moreover, the AT1R-Ab+ group had significantly more patients ≤30 years of age (P = .01). No differences were found regarding sex, body mass index, transplant characteristics, causes of end-stage renal disease, or kidney biopsy diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to report the prevalence of AT1R-Ab among Thai kidney transplant patients. Further studies are suggested for the application of AT1R-Ab detection for routine testing.