Association of Graft Survival with Host Response to Hepatitis B Infection in Patients with Kidney Transplants

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Abstract
We studied the relation of host response to hepatitis B infection before transplantation with survival of kidney grafts in 79 patients receiving 87 transplants. Antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) signaled early graft rejection (median survival ≈ two months), whereas hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) signaled delayed rejection (>22 months). Patients with neither HBs Ag nor anti-HBs had graft survival times (median ≈ 16 months) similar to the HBs Ag carriers but significantly longer than the anti-HBs-positive patients (Ps who received kidneys from male donors. The probability that such grafts would survive for four months was <20 per cent.