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February 27, 2013 : A team led by Dr. Marie-Josée
Hébert from the University of Montreal Hospital* Research
Centre (CRCHUM) has discovered a new cause of organ rejection in
some kidney transplant patients. Her team has identified a new
class of antibodies – anti-LG3 – which when activated
lead to severe rejection episodes associated with a high rate of
organ loss. This discovery, which holds promise for organ
recipients, was published in the online version of the American
Journal of Transplantation.
Rejection is one of the major obstacles to organ transplantation.
For the most part, it occurs when the recipient’s immune
system recognizes the transplanted organ as a foreign body that
must be eliminated. However, even when there is a good
donor-recipient immunologic match, the recipient’s immune
system can attack the transplanted organ’s blood vessels.
Called acute vascular rejection, this phenomenon often leads to a
high rate of graft loss.
Hébert’s team has characterized anti-LG3, an antibody
that some patients produce to attack LG3, a protein that plays an
important role in vascular repair and regeneration. “In these
patients, the secretion of LG3 by the new kidney stimulates the
activity of these antibodies which attack and injure the blood
vessels of the transplanted organ. The net effect is that the
normal healing process of the transplanted organ is hindered, if
not interrupted, leading to impaired kidney function and even
loss,” explains Dr. Hébert.
By identifying the heightened presence of anti-LG3 antibodies in
patients prior to transplantation, researchers will be able to
predict the development of severe rejection episodes.
“These results are quite exciting,” notes
Hébert, “and suggest that new therapies aimed at
eliminating LG3 antibodies prior to transplantation could reduce
organ rejection or limit its severity.”
Given that LG3 is present in all blood vessels and thus in all
transplanted organs, Hébert’s results could also
explain rejection of other types of transplanted organ, such as the
heart, lung and pancreas.
About Dr. Hébert:
Dr. Marie-Josée Hébert is a transplant nephrologist
at CHUM and a researcher with the CRCHUM’s Infection,
Immunity and Inflammation research axis. She is also the Shire
Chair in Nephrology Transplantation and Renal Regeneration, a
professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Organ
Transplant Program at the University of Montreal*. Her research is
funded by the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Canada Foundation for
Innovation, the Fonds de recherche du Québec –
Santé, and the Canadian Institutes for Health
Research.
To view the study : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23432943
Information:
Richard Ashby
Associate Director, Information and Development
CHUM Research Centre
(514) 890-8000, ext. 14090
Directeur adjoint, information et développement
Centre de recherche du CHUM
514 890-8000, poste 14090
richard.ashby.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca
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