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The following is a summary of “Donor genetic burden for cerebrovascular risk and kidney transplant outcome,” published in the May 2024 issue of Nephrology by Collins et al. 

Kidney grafts from stroke-related donors don’t do as well compared to those from living donors or other deceased donors. Donors who died from strokes have a higher genetic risk for cerebrovascular issues.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to verify the correlation between genetic risk in donors and graft outcomes. 

They analyzed data from 6666 deceased and living kidney donors across 7 transplant cohorts and examined the genetic risk for cerebrovascular traits like hypertension, stroke, and intracranial aneurysm (IA). The impact of traits on donor age of death and recipient graft outcomes were also studied. 

The results showed that kidney donors who died of stroke had higher polygenic risk scores for IA and hypertension compared to HCs and living donors. The risk was linked to the age of death in stroke donors. Additionally, a higher genetic risk for hypertension was associated with lower long-term graft survival (HR: 1.44, 95% CI [1.07,1.93]) and increased risk for hypertension and IA correlated with lower recipient estimated glomerular filtration rate at 1 year. 

Investigators concluded that the findings showed inherited factors related to donors’ death affect the long-term function of grafts.

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40620-024-01973-0