20, February 2010
Washington, USA
In what is claimed to be the world’s first, scientists have developed a simple urine test to detect kidney transplant rejection. The finding, published in the Transplantation journal, is the result of a seven-year study of New Zealand, Australian and Swiss kidney transplant patients. Once further testing is completed, it should mean the current test, an invasive biopsy procedure, could be replaced with a simple and accurate urine test, Dr Alex McLellan of the University of Otago, who led the study, said.
The newly developed urine test detects one of the molecules (called Major Histocompatibility Complex molecules) that are released from the kidneys into urine during transplant rejection.
In the study, the urine levels of MHC molecules soared during transplant rejection, and could be detected days before confirmation of rejection using the standard biopsy method.
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