Allograft rejection after renal transplantation remains a challenge to overcome. Interleukin (IL)-21, a cytokine with pleiotropic effects, maintains immune homeostasis post-transplantation. Here, we report higher levels of IL-21 in kidney transplant recipients with non-rejection (NR) than in recipients with T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR, < 0.001) and antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR, = 0.005). We observed a negative correlation between IL-21 and creatinine (Cr) levels ( = 0.016). The receiving operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed a promising diagnostic value of IL-21 to identify acute rejection with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.822 ( < 0.001). In contrast, exogenous administration of IL-21 accelerated acute rejection in a comparative translational kidney transplant (KT) mouse model. Reduced IL-21 levels in the peripheral blood were observed in KT mice after IL-21 injection. Further analysis revealed that increased IL-21 levels in the spleen induced proliferation of CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells after IL-21 treatment. Our findings suggest a critical function of IL-21 in kidney transplantation and the potential involvement of the IL-21/IL-21R pathway in acute rejection management.
About The Expert
Luying Guo
Junhao Lv
Jian Zhang
Hao Deng
Shi Feng
Shuaihui Liu
Pengpeng Yan
Jingyi Zhou
Hui Chen
Meifang Wang
Qin Zhou
Huiping Wang
Jianghua Chen
Yu Kuang
Jia Shen
Rending Wang
References
PubMed