Kidney Transplantation, Polymorphisms of IL-18, and Other Pro-Inflammatory Genes and Late Post-Transplant Outcome

Background. Functional polymorphisms of molecules involved in immune-mediated mechanisms of allograft rejection could be predictive of increased risk for early and late post-transplant complications. In the past years, the challenge for long-term graft survival in kidney recipients is the implementation of personalized approaches. In this study, effects of interleukin (IL)-18e137G/C (rs187238), e607C/A (rs1946518), and other pro-inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-ae308G/A, rs1800629, IL-6e174G/C, rs1800795, and interferon [IFN]-gþ874A/T, rs2430561) on the main post-transplant risk parameters and diseases (metabolic, cardiovascular, infective, and chronic allograft rejection) were assessed in kidney-transplanted patients. Methods. One hundred seventy-nine transplanted patients were retrospectively analyzed for clinical and biochemical parameters and onset of post-transplant complications. Taqman allelic discrimination and PCR-SSP (polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers) techniques were used for genotyping. Results. No predictive effects of allele and genotypes of IL-18e607C/A, TNF-ae308G/A, IL-6e174G/C, and IFN-gþ874A/T gene polymorphisms and onset of risk factors and late complications were evidenced. However, Kaplan-Meier analysis evidenced a weak effect of IL-18e137G/C genotypes on graft survival. Conclusions. Analyzing associations between some pro-inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms and onset of the most relevant risk factors and late complications of kidney transplant, results suggested a possible impact of IL-18e137G/C genotypes on graft survival, which deserves further studies.