Lower incidence of de novo donor-specific antibodies against HLA-DR in ABO-incompatible renal transplantation

Abstract Recently, in vitro experiments have demonstrated that anti-blood group A/B antibody binding to endothelial cells induce a protective effect against antibody-mediated injury. This study aimed to clarify the potential clinical benefit of ABO incompatibility in donor-specific HLA antibody (DSA)-induced chronic antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR). We enrolled 215 ABO-incompatible renal transplant (ABO-I) and 467 ABO-identical/compatible renal transplant recipients (ABO-Id/C). The prevalence of de novo DSA production and incidence of biopsy-proven chronic ABMR were compared between the two groups. The incidence of DR-associated de novo DSA was significantly lower in ABO-I than in ABO-Id/C ( P  = 0.028). Diagnostic biopsy for ABMR was conducted in 54 patients (11 ABO-I and 43 ABO-Id/C). Biopsy-proven chronic ABMR was lower in ABO-I than in ABO-Id/C (27.3% [3/11] vs. 44.2% [19/43]) patients. Our findings suggest that ABO incompatibility may cause low production of DR-associated de novo DSA, possibly resulting in a reduced incidence of chronic ABMR.