Objective:This study is to investigate the predictive value of serum levels of TIMP-2 and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7(IGFBP7) in patients with DCD(donation after cardiac death) kidney transplantation.Methods:A prospective research design was used to select DCD kidney transplant patients admitted to the Li Huili Hospital of Ningbo University from January 2018 to October 2020.Inclusion criteria: ①Complete data; ②There were no serious complications affecting the function of the transplanted kidney in the early postoperative period.Exclusion criteria: ①Incomplete data; ②Patients were unable or unwilling to cooperate with the study; ③Severe complications affecting the function of the transplanted kidney occurred early after the operation.The ELASE method was used to quantitatively detect the serum TIMP-2 and IGFBP7 levels at 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours and 7 days after renal transplantation, and monitor the serum creatinine values during the same period and 21 days after the operation. According to the occurrence of DGF, the measured values of TIMP-2 and IGFBP7 at different time points and their product's ability to predict the occurrence of DGF after kidney transplantation were analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of TIMP-2 and IGFBP7 for DGF.Results:A total of 33 patients were enrolled, 7 patients (21.2%) in the DGF group and 26 patients (78.8%) in the non-DGF group. Between the two groups, the donor glomerular filtration rate were [98.5(15.8-132.5)ml/(min·1.73m 2) and 79.1(60.6-102.5)ml/(min·1.73m 2)], recipient gender (male/female: 3/4 cases and 10/16 cases), recipient age [48(34-56) Years old and 45(23-61) years old], the recipient's preoperative creatinine [1114.0(731.4-1293.0)μmol/L and 858.4(657.6-1051.9)μmol/L], the recipient's preoperative urea nitrogen [15.0(13.2-19.6)mmol/L and 17.3(13.6-20.9)mmol/L], receptor preoperative albumin [43.5(38.5-45.3)mmol/L and 41.2(37.5-46.1) mmol/L], recipient dialysis method [hemodialysis/peritoneal dialysis: 3/4 cases and 9/17 cases], warm ischemia time [6(5-7) and 5(4-6) min, there was no statistically significant difference] ( P>0.05). The values of serum IGFBP7 and TIMP-2×IGFBP7 in the DGF group were higher than those in the non-DGF group at all time points ( F=15.753, P=0.040; F=13.000, P=0.024), while serum TIMP-2 was not significant between the two groups difference ( F=1.157, P=0.075). For the diagnostic value of DGF, the AUC of serum IGFBP7 at 48 h after surgery was 0.863 (95% CI 0.696-1.000, P=0.004). When 5.97 ng/ml was used as the cut-off value, the sensitivity was 85.7% and the specificity was 80.8 %. The AUC of TIMP-2×IGFBP7 at 48 hours after surgery was 0.819 (95% CI 0.641-0.996, P=0.011). When 62.06(ng/ml) 2 was used as the cutoff value, the sensitivity was 71.4% and the specificity was 80.8%.There was no statistical difference in the area under the curve between the two ( P>0.05). There were differences in the dynamic trend of serum IGFBP7 and creatinine in the DGF group. Serum IGFBP7 at 7 days after surgery was positively correlated with creatinine at 21 days after surgery. Conclusion:Serum IGFBP7 and TIMP-2×IGFBP7 could predict the occurrence of DGF after DCD donor kidney surgery. The predictive value changes with time. Among them, 48h and 7d after surgery are the most valuable. However, serum TIMP-2 has not been found to have predictive value in this study.