P85
DETECTION OF DONOR T AND B CELLS SPECIFIC C4D FIXING ALLOANTIBODIES USING
FLOW CYTOMETRY: A NOVEL DIAGNOSTIC APPROACH
Dharmendra Jain, Pranav Dorwal, Neetu Tyagi, Amit Pande, Simmi, Vimarsh Raina
Molecular Genetics and Immunology Laboratory, Medanta -The Medicity, Gurgaon, India
ABSTRACT:
Introduction &Aim: Donor-specific complement-fixing alloantibody identification is known to play a major role
in antibody-mediated renal transplantation rejection and management. Specifically, the deposition of C4d in the
peritubular capillaries in a kidney biopsy is a valuable marker of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). Various
methods have been reported for the detection of allo-antibodies in recipient sera. These antibodies can be HLA or
non-HLA, complement-fixing or non-complement fixing, donor T and/or B cell specific. C4d Flow-PRA is one of
the screening methods to identify HLA specific complement fixing antibodies. However, results are limited by
lack of donor specificity in method.
Method: We hereby report a novel method christened Donor-specific-Flow-C4d (DFC) of identifying donorspecific (T and/or B cell), C4d-fixing alloantibodies. The test was validated using pooled reference serums and
comparing the results with immunohistochemistry findings. The schematic protocol is described in Figure-1
Results: In present report we have discussed a series of cases representing a variety of cases in renal transplants
wherein the newer method i.e. DFC was beneficial. Some of the prototype cases cited was of AMR, where
initially there was a dilemma of AMR versus ACR as the result of histopathological finding of allograft biopsy
and FCXM were not sufficient to confirm it as complement mediated rejections. The positivity on the DFC
method confirmed the diagnosis of AMR due to donor B cell specific, complement fixing, alloantibodies for both
of these cases. An another case was of a deferred pre-transplant donor, wherein the recipient serum was confirmed
to be positive for donor T and B cell specific; complement fixing, HLA alloantibodies without using an invasive
procedure of allograft biopsy. This was helpful in pre- transplant prediction of a possibility of an AMR. There
were also a few cases with a clear indication of correlation of the DFC and the histopathological findings. The
patients were managed with the therapeutic protocols used for an ACR.
Conclusion: With the added advantage of being non-invasive and Donor T and B cell specificity, this newer
method provides information pre-transplant; whereas kidney biopsy based C4d evaluation can only be done posttransplant. It helps in decision of donor deferral, which is important in Asian countries like India, where most of
the transplants are live related. We postulate that this method incorporates the best features of all the available
modalities (i.e. FCXM, C4d-FlowPRA and NIH-CDC).
Figure-1: Pictorial representation of C4d activation and detection protocol in DS-Flow-C4d
Protocol. Abbreviation: (DC-Donor cells)