Mast Cells in Renal Allografts

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Chronic rejection is the enemy in the battle for long term survival after renal allografts. Interstitial fibrosis is known to be the important finding in renal allografts with chronic rejection. Mast cells secrete a large number of fibrogenic factors and have been involved in chronic inflammation and tissue fibrosis. In this study the authors evaluated the relationship between mast cells and fibrosis in renal allografts with chronic rejection. METHODS: The authors evaluated 42 biopsied specimens of renal allografts. Immunohistochemistry using anti-mast cell tryptase (Dako, 1 : 200) and an LSAB kit (Dako) was applied to detect mast cells. The mean number of mast cells (MNM) per 10 high power fields was counted. RESULTS: MNM of implantation biopsies was 0.640+/-0.537, of acute rejection -1.969+/-1.216, of chronic rejection -6.0+/-3.133 (P0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data show that the number of mast cells in renal allograft was significantly associated with chronic rejection, donor sex and hypercholesterolemia.