Background: Increasing evidence demonstrates the superiority of normothermic ex-vivo kidney perfusion (NEVKP) over cold storage (CS) for marginal renal grafts. To account for this improvement, we investigated whether NEVKP-preservation returns the genetic profiles of DCD grafts to that of unmanipulated naïve kidneys.

Methods: Kidneys from 30kg Yorkshire pigs were removed following 30min of warm ischemia and then stored in either static CS or subjected to pressure-controlled NEVKP for 8 hours prior to heterotopic autotransplantation. Kidney biopsies were collected on POD3 and gene expression was compared with naïve porcine kidneys utilizing the Affymetrix GeneChip® Porcine Gene 1.0 ST Array platform.

Results: Post-transplantation graft function significantly improved with NEVKP compared to CS with decreased peak serum creatinine (POD1: 4.0+/-1.15mg/dL vs POD3: 12.0+/-0.78mg/dL, n=5, p<0.01) and higher creatinine clearance on POD3 (39.6+/-11.8mL/min vs 2.6+/-0.9ml/min, n=5, p<0.01). Genomic comparison of grafts subjected to NEVKP on POD3 showed significant differences in only 27 genes when compared to naïve porcine kidneys. In contrast, 668 genes were significantly differentially expressed between grafts stored with CS on POD3 and naïve kidneys (Table 1 and 2, respectively. >±2-fold changes in expression over naïve, n=3, P<0.05, FDR p-value<0.20).

Conclusions: NEVKP restored damaged kidney grafts in a model of DCD with a genomic profile closely resembling naïve kidneys. Conversely, ongoing injury was evident in DCD grafts following CS through increased expression of genes related to inflammation, apoptosis, and repair. Together, these findings support the use of NEVKP for storage of marginal kidney grafts.

CITATION INFORMATION: Urbanellis P., Hamar M., Linares I., Kollmann D., Ganesh S., John R., Yip P., Mucsi I., Ghanekar A., Bagli D., Konvalinka A., Grant D., Robinson L., Selzner M. Normothermic Ex-Vivo Kidney Perfusion Restores the Genetic Profile of Marginal Kidney Grafts Subjected to Warm Ischemia Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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