Incidence of polyomavirus-nephropathy in renal allografts: influence of modern immunosuppressive drugs

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Abstract
Background. In recent years an increasing number of cases with polyomavirus (PV)‐nephropathy after renal transplantation were reported from several transplant centres. New, highly potent immunosuppressive drugs like tacrolimus or mycophenolate mofetil were accused as risk factors for this increase. However, data about the incidence of PV‐nephropathy in correlation to different immunosuppressive therapy concepts are lacking. Methods. All renal transplant biopsies performed at Hannover Medical School between 1999 and 2001 (n=1276) were immunohistochemically screened for the presence of PV‐specific proteins. The results were correlated to the different immunosuppressive therapy protocols and patients with PV‐nephropathy were compared with a matched control group. Results. PV‐nephropathy was found in Conclusions. PV‐nephropathy is a rare but serious complication after renal transplantation. A small group of patients under intensive immunosuppression comprising tacrolimus in combination with mycophenolate mofetil has a significantly increased risk of acquiring this deleterious complication.