Circulating microvesicle protein is associated with renal transplant outcome

Renal transplantation is an effective therapy with improved long-term outcomes compared with other therapies for end stage renal disease. Present methods for evaluating kidney allograft function, such as serum creatinine or allograft biopsy, are not sensitive and identify pathological changes only after any potential intervention would be effective. Thus, there is a necessity for biomarkers that would provide early prognostic information about kidney transplant outcomes. Circulating microvesicles represent an attractive source of biomarkers for different diseases including renal failure. We have studied the proteins of the circulating microvesicles from two populations of kidney transplant recipients (n = 20) with poor transplant outcomes (n = 10) or good transplant outcome (n = 10), according to their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Microvesicles from age-matched healthy subjects (n = 10) were used as a control. Also, we performed a pilot study to assess the microvesicle protein in kidney transplant recipients before and six months after kidney transplant (n = 6), compared to healthy subjects. Proteomic analysis of microvesicles could discriminate between transplant recipients and healthy subjects, and between transplant patients based on eGFR. Our results shed light on the potential of blood microvesicles to provide a novel tool for the prediction of the outcome of kidney transplants.