The TGF-β activated long non-coding RNA ATB plays an important role in acute rejection of renal allografts and may impacts the postoperative pharmaceutical immunosuppression therapy.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are novel intracellular noncoding ribonucleotides regulating the genome and proteome. The lncRNA activated by transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) (lncRNA-ATB) was discovered as a prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer, and colorectal cancer. However, little is known about the role of lncRNA-ATB in renal transplantation. This study aimed to assess lncRNA-ATB expression in renal transplant patients with acute kidney injury and explore its role in postoperative pharmaceutical immunosuppression therapy.

We detected lncRNA-ATB expression in the kidney biopsies of a cohort of 72 patients with renal allograft rejection and 36 control transplant patients. lncRNA-ATB were overexpressed from lentiviral vectors in renal cells.

We found that lncRNA-ATB was remarkably upregulated in patients with acute rejection compared with controls. Meanwhile, lncRNA-ATB could influence the kidney cell phenotypes and impact the nephrotoxicity of immunosuppressive drug.

In conclusion, lncRNA-ATB are strongly altered in patients with acute rejection and may serve as a novel biomarker of acute kidney rejection, identifying patients with acute rejection and predicting loss of kidney function. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Nephrology (Carlton, Vic.). 2016 Jul 14 [Epub ahead of print]

Jiang Qiu, Yehui Chen, Gang Huang, Zhi Zhang, Lizhong Chen, Ning Na

Division of Organ Transplantation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China., Division of Urology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China., Division of Organ Transplantation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China., Division of Urology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China., Division of Organ Transplantation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China., Division of Organ Transplantation, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.