Objective:To investigate the phenotypic characteristics of dendritic cell (DC) in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic antibody-mediated rejection (CAMR) after kidney transplantation,revealing the potential role of DCs in the occurrence and development of CAMR.Methods:Case-control study. A total of 25 kidney transplant recipients who underwent kidney transplantation or were under long-term follow-up at West China Hospital of Sichuan University from October 1st, 2020, to July 31st, 2021, were recruited in this case-control study, comprising 15 cases of patients with CAMR and 10 cases of patients with stable renal function. Flow cytometry was used to analyze DC subsets in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients. Correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between DC subsets and renal function indicators. Iterative cluster analysis was performed based on the absolute counts of DC, ILT3+ mDC, ILT3+ pDC,ILT4+ mDC and ILT4+ pDC in the CAMR group.Results:Compared with the stable renal function group, the percentages and absolute count of pDC, pDC/mDC ratio, and absolute count of ILT3+ pDC were decreased while percentages of ILT3+ mDC were increased in CAMR group . DC percentage was negatively correlated with Scr (r=-0.467, P=0.019) and CysC (r=-0.502, P=0.011) and positively correlated with eGFR (r=0.436, P=0.029). ILT4+ pDC percentage was positively correlated with CysC (r=0.433, P=0.031), and absolute count of DCs was negatively correlated with CysC (r=-0.425, P=0.034). Iterative cluster analysis defined two patient clusters with significant statistic differences of Scr, eGFR, and CysC detection results in the CAMR group.Conclusion:The distribution of DC subsets and the expression of ILT3 and ILT4 in the blood of post-transplant patients could provide new biomarkers for early identification of CAMR risk and optimization of immunosuppressive therapy strategies. Particularly, changes of pDC and the expression levels of ILT3, ILT4 can serve as valuable indicators for assessing post-transplant immune status and renal function prognosis.

Objective:To investigate the phenotypic characteristics of dendritic cell (DC) in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic antibody-mediated rejection (CAMR) after kidney transplantation,revealing the potential role of DCs in the occurrence and development of CAMR.Methods:Case-control study. A total of 25 kidney transplant recipients who underwent kidney transplantation or were under long-term follow-up at West China Hospital of Sichuan University from October 1st, 2020, to July 31st, 2021, were recruited in this case-control study, comprising 15 cases of patients with CAMR and 10 cases of patients with stable renal function. Flow cytometry was used to analyze DC subsets in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients. Correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between DC subsets and renal function indicators. Iterative cluster analysis was performed based on the absolute counts of DC, ILT3+ mDC, ILT3+ pDC,ILT4+ mDC and ILT4+ pDC in the CAMR group.Results:Compared with the stable renal function group, the percentages and absolute count of pDC, pDC/mDC ratio, and absolute count of ILT3+ pDC were decreased while percentages of ILT3+ mDC were increased in CAMR group . DC percentage was negatively correlated with Scr (r=-0.467, P=0.019) and CysC (r=-0.502, P=0.011) and positively correlated with eGFR (r=0.436, P=0.029). ILT4+ pDC percentage was positively correlated with CysC (r=0.433, P=0.031), and absolute count of DCs was negatively correlated with CysC (r=-0.425, P=0.034). Iterative cluster analysis defined two patient clusters with significant statistic differences of Scr, eGFR, and CysC detection results in the CAMR group.Conclusion:The distribution of DC subsets and the expression of ILT3 and ILT4 in the blood of post-transplant patients could provide new biomarkers for early identification of CAMR risk and optimization of immunosuppressive therapy strategies. Particularly, changes of pDC and the expression levels of ILT3, ILT4 can serve as valuable indicators for assessing post-transplant immune status and renal function prognosis.