Evaluation of CTLA-4, CD28 and CD86 Genes Polymorphisms in Acute Renal Allograft Rejection among Tunisian Patients

Kidney transplantation is the preferred therapy for most patients with end-stage renal disease (Sui et al., 2008; Turgeon et al., 2009). Transplantation improves both quality of life and survival (Chavez et al., 2008). Unfortunately, the rate of renal allograft rejection remains important. With the aim of reducing the level of transplantation failure, several researches were achieved to elucidate the immunological mechanisms involved in this process. Thus, it was well established that allograft rejection is an immune response strongly depending on T cells proliferation. In fact, T lymphocytes play a crucial role in the initiation and the regulation of the adaptive immune response to foreign or native antigen (Vincenti, 2008). Herein, we focused on the costimulatory molecules: CTLA-4 and CD28: two receptors of T lymphocytes, and CD86: their common ligand on the antigen presenting cells (APC).