Human leukocyte antigen-G-14-base-pair-insertion/deletion polymorphism and graft survival in kidney transplant recipients.

Objectives: The human leukocyte antigen-G may have a positive role in graft acceptance in human organ transplant. Several studies have reported an association between the human leukocyte antigen-G-14-base-pair-insertion/deletion polymorphism and risk of developing kidney graft rejection, but the results are inconclusive. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate this association. Materials and Methods: We included 5 case-control studies that evaluated the association between human leukocyte antigen-G-14-base-pair-insertion/deletion polymorphism and risk of developing kidney transplant rejection, including a total 907 patients (rejection, 271 patients; no rejection, 636 patients). Results: There was no significant association between the human leukocyte antigen-G-14-base-pair-insertion/deletion polymorphism and risk of developing kidney transplant rejection in the allele contrast, homozygous, heterozygous, recessive, or dominant genetic models for all rejection or acute rejection. In 2 studies, there was a significant association between human leukocyte antigen-G14-base-pair-insertion/deletion polymorphism and chronic graft rejection in the allele contrast model (+14 vs -14: odds ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence interval: 0.48-0.96; P = .618), heterozygous model (+14/-14 vs -14/-14: odds ratio, 0.44; 95% confidence interval: 0.23-0.83; P = .248), and dominant genetic model ([+14/+14 and +14/-14] vs -14/-14: odds ratio, 0.48; 95% confidence interval: 0.30-0.78; P = .355). Conclusions: There may be no association between 14-base-pair polymorphisms and risk of developing kidney allograft rejection. Additional studies with larger sample size and better study design are justified.