Early Antibody-Mediated Kidney Transplant Rejection: A Successful Case Without Donor-Specific Anti-HLA Antibodies

The diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection has become more common and represents a major cause of kidney graft loss. The ideal treatment remains unknown, with little evidence supporting the use of a specific therapy. The definition of antibody-mediated rejection is based on serologic (presence and/or development of donor-specific antibodies) and histologic (evidence of acute tissue injury with C4d deposition or other signs of antibody interaction with the vascular endothelium) criteria. Antibody-mediated rejection without donor-specific antibodies is a subcategory with a defying diagnosis. This particularly entity is increasingly being reported as an important cause of allograft dysfunction in kidney transplantation. We describe the case of a kidney transplant recipient with a low immunological risk and delayed graft function due to an antibody-mediated rejection with negative donor-specific antibodies.