Transplant Glomerulopathy: Pathogenesis, Morphology, and Prognosis

Transplant glomerulopathy (TG) has emerged as an important leading cause to late renal allograft loss. It is easily distinguished from other causes of renal allograft nephropathies, by the presence of thickened glomerular capillary loops and double contouring, in the presence of graft dysfunction and proteinuria clinically. The association between TG with anti-HLA antibodies, C4d, and prior antibody mediated rejection episodes supported the contribution of antibody mediated process in the pathogenesis. It is now a recognized entity of chronic antibody mediated rejection, despite the growing evidence of the contribution of other factors. TG has a poor outcome with graft loss soon after the establishment of the diagnosis. Several histological and clinical factors influenced graft survival, such as TG grade, C4d, and eGFR. So far, there is no approved and effective therapeutic modality for TG, but change in immunosuppressive therapy might stabilize the graft function and reduce proteinuria. *Corresponding author: Carmen Avila-Casado, MD, PhD, Dept. of Pathology, University Health Network, 200 Elizabeth St., 11 Eaton -11E226, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada, Tel. 1-416-340-3283; Fax: 1-416-340-5517; E-mail: carmen. [email protected] Received November 15, 2011; Accepted December 08, 2011; Published December 12, 2011 Citation: Mohamed N, Avila-Casado C (2011) Transplant Glomerulopathy: Pathogenesis, Morphology, and Prognosis. J Transplant Technol Res S1:003. doi:10.4172/2161-0991.S1-003 Copyright: © 2011 Mohamed N, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.