Recipient HLA-G +3142 CC Genotype and Concentrations of Soluble HLA-G Impact on Occurrence of CMV Infection after Living-Donor Kidney Transplantation

• Main Authors: Hana Guberina, Rafael Tomoya Michita, Sebastian Dolff, Anja Bienholz, Mirko Trilling, Falko M. Heinemann, Peter A. Horn, Andreas Kribben, Oliver Witzke, Vera Rebmann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: Human leukocyte antigen-G; HLA-G 3′UTR Polymorphisms; Living Kidney Transplantation; Cytomegalovirus
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/18/11/2338

The expression modulation of the immunosuppressive non-classical Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) molecule and its soluble isoforms is an immune evasion strategy being deployed by cytomegalovirus (CMV). The +3142 C>G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located within the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) is of crucial importance for the regulation of HLA-G expression. Therefore, we analyzed the influence of the +3142 C>G HLA-G SNP on the occurrence of CMV infection in a cohort of 178 living-donor kidney recipients and their 178 corresponding donors. In addition, soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) levels were quantified before and after transplantation. The presence of the HLA-G +3142 CC genotype in recipients, but not donors of our cohort as along with elevated sHLA-G levels (≥ 6.1 ng/mL) were associated with higher susceptibility to CMV infection after transplantation. Our results provided evidence that i) HLA-G is implicated in the establishment of CMV after living-donor kidney transplantation and ii) recipient HLA-G +3142 CC genotype and sHLA-G concentration levels could represent important predictive risk markers for CMV infection.