Effect of Pretreatment of Mycophenolate Mofetil on Apoptotic Cell Death and Map Kinases Activation in Rat Kidneys with Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury / 대한신장학회잡지

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to investigate the effects of pretreatment of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) on mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase expression and apoptotic cell death in rat kidneys with ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. METHODS: Three experiments were done separate ly, In the first experiment, the effect of MMF (20 or 60 mg/kg) on I/R injury was observed. In the second experiment, MAP kinase expression were observed according to the time interval after I/R injury. Finally, the effect of pretreatment of MMF (20 or 60 mg/kg) on I/R injury in terms of apoptotic cell death and MAP kinases were evaluated. We also studied pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 and TNF-alpha) using PCR. RESULTS: BUN and Serum creatinine level in creased in rats with I/R injury but their levels were significantly decreased with MMF Pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha & IL-1) and apoptosis-related gene (caspase-1 and caspase-3 activities) were also significantly decreased as compared with rats with I/R injury. Expressions of MAP kinase were significantly increased in kidneys with I/R injury compared with sham-operated control, but significantly decreased with MMF pretreatment. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment of MMF showed a significant decreases of apoptotic cell death, apoptosis-related genes, and MAP kinase expression. This may explain beneficial effect of MMF on subsequent I/R injury.

Clinical Significance of Anti-endothelial Cell Antibody in Renal Transplant Recipients

In order to evaluate the role of anti-endothelial cell antibody (AECA) in acute rejection in renal transplantation, serum AECA IgG titers were measured in 68 healthy controls, 111 chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients and 58 first renal transplant recipients. The AECA titer in hemodialysis patients was higher than in healthy controls (13.9+/-5.0 vs. 4.8+/-2.3 U/mL, p0.05). After renal transplantation, AECA titer was decreased significantly (vs. 4.7+/-3.6 U/mL, p<0.01). The serum AECA IgG titers increased significantly in recipients with acute rejection (6.9+/-3.1 vs. 13.5+/-9.9 U/mL, p<0.01), but decreased to 5.6+/-3.0 U/mL (p<0.01) after formal rejection therapy. In the recipients with acute rejection (n=27), the pre-renal transplant AECA titer was higher than in that without acute rejection (14.0+/-8.6 vs. 7.7+/-3.8 U/mL, p<0.01). The results of this study lead us to conclude that pre- and post-renal transplant AECA titer might be a useful predictor for acute rejection and useful for monitoring acute rejection in renal transplant recipients.