Renal transplantation is currently the best modality of renal substitutive therapy. Unfortunately graft survival is interrupted by episodes of acute rejection or even interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy. The measurement of urinary chemokines and cytokines as an alternative tool to diagnose these complications has been reported in past years. Those substances are clearly related to the immunoinflammatory mechanisms of renal transplantation, and can be detected in renal tissue, plasma, and urine samples of transplant recipients. Anti-inflammatory drugs, renin-angiotensin system inhibitors, and some antagonists of cytokines' receptors, although used only experimentally, can interfere with the expression of these immune system mediators and consequently alter renal transplantation outcome. This article reviewed studies on the measurement of cytokines/ chemokines and their receptors in urine, plasma, and renal tissue of transplant recipients, aiming at evaluating a possible association of the levels of those mediators with renal transplantation complications and allograft survival.
cytokines; chemokines; acute rejection; IF; renal function
