New publication alert in JCI Insight!

Open Access paper here: https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/199060

We are pleased to announce that our recent paper exploring the effect of donor age on features of transplanted kidneys is now available in an In-Press Preview with The Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.

In our multivariable analysis in 4,502 kidney transplant biopsies (donor age range 1-85 years, time posttransplant range 1 day-10.5 years) using the Molecular Microscope Diagnostic System (MMDx), older donor age was associated with lower GFR and increased injury-related molecular signals — but importantly was not associated with increased rejection.

The relationship between donor age and other features differed over time posttransplant: while older donor age had minimal effect on early acute injury, the strongest age-related effects emerged later (~1 year posttransplant), suggesting that donor age primarily affects failed repair after injury.

The overall quantitative impact of donor age on molecular injury, graft function, and survival was surprisingly small after adjusting for other clinical variables. Because donor age is a major consideration when evaluating kidneys for transplantation, these findings help refine how we think about older donor kidneys and support a more nuanced assessment of donor age. Our results suggest that the importance of older donor age on kidney transplant survival has been overestimated.