High Levels Of Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA Can Identify Biopsy-Proven Rejection Risk In Transplant Recipients, Study Finds

Healio (8/18, Carter) reports a study found that “high levels of donor-derived cell-free DNA can identify biopsy-proven rejection risk in transplant recipients.” For the study, researchers “analyzed 1,070 biopsies from 1,743 kidney transplant recipients in the multicenter AlloSure Registry, which is a prospective, observational multicenter clinical study designed to evaluate clinical utility of dd-cfDNA.” The biopsies were “divided by the indication for the biopsy (surveillance or for-cause) and then stratified based on the associated dd-cfDNA levels into 3 groups: elevated, non-elevated or not tested. Findings showed a rejection yield of 39% with elevated dd-cfDNA compared with 7% for non-elevated cases in surveillance settings, and 47% versus 12% in for-cause situations.” The study was published in the American Journal of Transplantation.