*Purpose: Chemokine is a subtype of cytokines that involved in the process of inflammation and immune responses, and play an important role in both kidney transplantation (KT) and infection. We aimed to explore the predictive abilities of post-transplant 30 days (POD 30) CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL13 and CCL2 levels on the occurrence of infection after KT.

*Methods: Serum levels of POD 30 CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL13 and CCL2 were measured with Bio-Plex® suspension array system in 82 recipients undergoing KT at our hospital between July 2014 to June 2016. Receiver-operating characteristic curves (ROC) and Cox regression model were applied to assess the predictive performances and the impact of these biomarkers on the incident of post-transplant infection. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to calculate the combined predictor values for the combination of the potential markers.

*Results: POD 30 CXCL9 and CXCL13 levels were significantly higher in KTRs with infection complication compared to non-infected KTRs (P=0.021 and P=0.002), while no significant differences were observed in CCL2 and CXCL10. The areas under the curve (AUCs) for CXCL9 and CXCL13 to predict 1- year post-transplantation infection were 0.651 (95%CI, 0.520-0.782) and 0.709 (95%CI, 0.584-0.833) respectively. By combining CXCL9 and CXCL13, the AUC value was improved to 0.721 (0.591-0.852). Multivariate Cox regression analyses confirmed that CXCL13 and the combined predictor were independent predictors of post-transplant infection.

*Conclusions: Higher serum POD 30 CXCL13 level was independently associated to an increased risk of infection after KT, suggesting a role for CXCL13 in the KTRs’ susceptibility to post-transplant infection.

« Back to 2019 American Transplant Congress