Transforming growth factor beta 1 levels in the blood of pediatric liver recipients: Clinical and biochemical correlations.

TGF-ß1 is a cytokine with profibrogenic and immunosuppressive activities, which suggest the clinical significance of TGF-ß1 for the assessment of graft function after LT. We analyzed the dynamics of TGF-ß1 levels in the blood after LDLT in 135 pediatric liver recipients and examined the relationship between the cytokine levels and the laboratory and clinical variables. We found that TGF-ß1 levels in the blood of patients with ESLD were lower than that in healthy children of the same age, P = .001. Moreover, blood levels of TGF-ß1 were associated with liver disease etiology (r = .23) and hepatic fibrosis severity (r = .33). Before LDLT, TGF-ß1 levels were significantly higher in children with good outcomes than in recipients who developed graft dysfunction early in the post-transplant period, P = .047. One month after LDLT, TGF-ß1 levels in blood plasma increased in pediatric recipients, P = .002. Cytokine levels were significantly correlated with gender (r = .21) and HLA (r = -.24) mismatches, as well as with TAC dosage (r = -.32) later in the post-transplant period. One year after LDLT, TGF-ß1 plasma levels were higher (P = .01) than those before LDLT and did not correlate with most of the investigated biochemical and clinical variables. Conclusion: Blood levels of TGF-ß1 are associated with hepatic fibrosis severity, graft dysfunction development, and TAC dosage and can be regarded as a potential prognostic biomarker for the assessment of graft function and the optimization of immunosuppressant dosage in pediatric recipients after LDLT.

The hematopoietic stem cell number in the peripheral blood of pediatric recipients correlates with the outcome after living donor liver transplantation.

It has been proposed that circulating HSCs play a role in graft survival after liver transplantation. The aim was to analyze the relationship between the number of HSCs before and after LDLT and liver function, immune biomarkers, and clinical outcomes in pediatric patients. We studied 15 pairs of adult healthy liver donors and pediatric recipients with ESLD. The CD34/CD45+ cell number was measured in the blood via flow cytometry, and plasma levels of immune biomarkers - via ELISA. CD34/CD45+ cell number in the recipients decreased within the first week after LDLT. The cell number before LDLT was negatively correlated with the plasma levels of CRP and the development of graft dysfunction in the early post-transplant period. After LDLT, the CD34/CD45+ cell number was positively correlated with the pretransplant plasma level of sCD40L, a T-cell activation marker. In adult liver donors, the cell number did not change within the first week after liver resection and was lower than in pediatric recipients. The results suggest that in pediatric recipients, the HSC number may be associated with graft function and could be regarded as a potential predictor of the clinical outcome after LDLT.