Lipoprotein lipids in renal transplant recipients of different pre-transplant etiology of renal disease. A comparison of male and female patients.

Serum and lipoprotein lipids have been compared in male and female transplant recipients with glomerulonephritis or analgesic nephropathy as etiology of pre-transplant renal disease, and a number of differences were observed. (1) Serum cholesterol and phospholipid levels were elevated in glomerulonephritis and female analgesic nephropathy, but not in male analgesic nephropathy patients. (2) Glomerulonephritis patients had normal low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels whereas these were elevated in female and depressed in male analgesic nephropathy patients. (3) LDL phospholipid, on the other hand, was normal in male and elevated in female transplant recipients irrespective of etiology of pre-transplant renal disease, while high density lipoprotein (HDL) phospholipid levels were elevated in female glomerulonephritis patients only. Mild hypertriglyceridemia and a tendency to increased HDL cholesterol were observed in all patients. These results provide further evidence for the complexity of lipoprotein lipid abnormalities in renal disease.