Allograft diabetic nephropathy may progress to end‐stage renal disease

Abstract: Mesangial expansion and glomerular basement membrane thickening characteristic of diabetic nephropathy recur in diabetic recipients of renal allografts from non‐diabetic donors but progression to renal failure is minimally documented. Three female renal allograft recipients (aged 40, 62 and 73 yr), who developed end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) due to recurrent diabetic nephropathy (two patients) and de novo diabetes (one patient) are reported. Onset of proteinuria, uncontrolled hypertension, azotemia, renal allograft pathologic findings and the need for hemodialysis were analyzed. None of the kidney donors (one cadaver, two living related) had known diabetes or perturbed glucose metabolism pre‐transplantation. The three patients presented had different varieties of diabetes; type 1, type 2 and new onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT). In each subject, proteinuria was detected by dipstick at a mean of 8.3 yr (range 8–9) post‐transplantation and increased to the nephrotic range (3.7–4.8 g/day) inducing hypoalbuminemia and azotemia. A histopathologic diagnosis of allograft diabetic nephropathy was made in a mean of 11.7 yr (range 10–14), based on glomerular basement membrane thickening, nodular and diffuse intercapillary glomerulosclerosis, arteriolosclerosis, and tubular atrophy with marked tubular basement membrane thickening characteristic of advanced diabetic nephropathy. All three patients manifested uremia and resumed hemodialysis. Two patients died from sepsis within 2 months and one patient died 2.5 yr later after resumption of maintenance hemodialysis. We infer that recurrent or de novo diabetic nephropathy in renal allografts follows a clinical decade‐long course irrespective of diabetes. Reports of ESRD due to allograft diabetic nephropathy (ADN) have been limited because of shorter survival of diabetic transplant recipients and few kidney biopsies performed in patients with chronic allograft dysfunction. The occurrence of allograft diabetic nephropathy in some, but not all patients, however, suggests that individual genetic variability modulates disease expression.