Influence of HLA compatibility and lymphocyte cross-matching on acute cellular rejection following living donor adult liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND

Reports on the relevance of immunogenetic factors in living donor adult liver transplantation (LDALT) are often conflicting or inconclusive. We therefore investigated the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatches, lymphocyte crossmatch positivity, and the reactivity in mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) in a series of LDALT.

METHODS

A total of 104 LDALT patients were studied. The minimum follow-up was 12 months, and the graft survival rates were assessed. The incidence of the most common complications was analyzed. And the influence of HLA, the flow cytometric analysis findings, enhanced cytotoxic cross-matching and MLC on graft survival, and acute rejection was also investigated.

RESULTS

As a result, 96 negative cross-matching and eight positive cross-matching cases were identified. Positive cytotoxic cross-matching had a significant effect on graft survival (P<0.05), while flow cytometric cross-matching also had an additional effect on acute rejection (P<0.05). The MLC of the patients with three HLA mismatches was significantly higher than the MLC of patients with zero HLA mismatches. The incidence of acute cellular rejection (ACR) was higher in the patients with three mismatches than in the other patients, and moderate rejection only occurred in the patients with three mismatches.

CONCLUSION

HLA mismatching was not statistically associated with the overall graft survival after LDALT. The graft failure rates were higher in the positive cross-matching cases and therefore a strong immuosuppressant might be needed for positive cross-matching cases.