Urinary metabolites give new clues to kidney transplant tolerance
Abstract
Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage kidney disease. While the procedure is very successful in the first years following transplantation, long-term rejection of allografts remains a major problem despite immunosuppression and a further difficulty is the worldwide shortage of organs suitable for transplant. There is therefore a tremendous need to identify new therapeutic pathways that could be targeted to improve the long-term survival of kidney transplants. The study published in this issue of eBio-Medicine by Colas et al. takes a novel approach to understanding operational tolerance by performing urinary metabolomic profiling, using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry. The results identify a urinary metabolomic signature in a cohort of spontaneously tolerant kidney transplant recipients. 1 This unique cohort is defined by the stable and acceptable function of their allografts in the absence of immunosuppressive treatments. 2 To date the mechanisms underlying such tolerance have not been fully elucidated despite data indicating distinct immunological modifications in the operationally tolerant group (eg in regulatory B and T follicular helper lymphocytes 3,4
Domains
Life Sciences [q-bio]
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