Purpose

Wnt signaling is an important pathway in kidney development and disease. We aimed to establish the levels of β-catenin expression in CD4⁺ T cells before and after renal transplantation and to associate it with the form of transplant type, rejection, and graft dysfunction.

Methods

CD4⁺ T cells were isolated from patients before and after kidney transplantation and their purity was confirmed by flow cytometer. RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis were carried out from these cells. The expression changes of the β-catenin were investigated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Changes in the β-catenin protein levels were determined by the western blot analysis.

Results

The increasing expression levels of β-catenin were detected in 60.8% of the patients 6 months after transplantation when compared to patients before transplantation result. 12 of these 14 patients had no graft rejection. It was observed that 11 of 14 patients with increased β-catenin expression had not graft dysfunction after the transplantation.

Conclusion

According to our results, the increased levels of β-catenin expression after transplantation may have a protective function for kidney survival. To understand this protective mechanism, further analysis of this signaling pathway is necessary.

中文翻译：

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肾移植前后β-catenin基因表达水平的变化

目的

Wnt信号是肾脏发育和疾病的重要途径。我们旨在确定肾移植前后CD4 ⁺ T 细胞中 β-连环蛋白的表达水平，并将其与移植类型、排斥和移植功能障碍的形式相关联。

方法

在肾移植前后从患者体内分离出CD4 ⁺ T细胞，并通过流式细胞仪确认其纯度。从这些细胞中进行RNA分离和cDNA合成。通过实时聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）研究β-连环蛋白的表达变化。通过蛋白质印迹分析确定β-连环蛋白水平的变化。

结果

与移植前的患者相比，移植后6个月的患者中有60.8%的患者检测到β-连环蛋白表达水平升高。这 14 名患者中有 12 名没有移植物排斥反应。观察到 14 名 β-连环蛋白表达增加的患者中有 11 名在移植后没有移植物功能障碍。

结论

根据我们的结果，移植后β-连环蛋白表达水平的增加可能对肾脏存活具有保护作用。要了解这种保护机制，有必要进一步分析这种信号通路。