Changes in biomarkers associated with living kidney donation

Living donor kidneys have been associated with better graft and overall survival in kidney transplant recipients. Although a living kidney donation is generally considered safe in carefully selected living donors, concerns of possible adverse effects related to kidney donation remain, especially in younger and high-risk donors. In this study, we examined the changes in a panel of traditional and novel serum biomarkers linked with cardiovascular conditions in a cohort of 34 healthy living kidney donors with a mean age ± SD of 40 ± 10 years and estimated predonation glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 86 ± 10 ml/min/1.73 m². At 6 months after donation, there were no significant changes in the clinical parameters including body mass index and blood pressure despite a significant decline in the mean estimated GFR to 60 ml/min/1.73 m². Among the panel of markers, the levels of symmetric dimethylarginine and fibroblast growth factor 23 increased significantly compared to baseline, suggesting that living kidney donation may result in changes in biomarkers that are associated with cardiovascular risk in other cohorts.