What question did this study set out to answer?

To explore the relationship between transplant glomerulitis and different forms of kidney rejection.

March 26, 2026Open Access

Transplant Glomerulitis: Paying Due Deference to T-cell Mediated Rejection and Antibody Independent Mechanisms

Key Points

To explore the relationship between transplant glomerulitis and different forms of kidney rejection.
Systematic study of 271 kidney biopsies showing glomerulitis.
Comparison with 612 biopsies exhibiting rejection without glomerulitis.
Analysis of 1442 donor specific antibody negative normal tissues.
Transplant glomerulitis is associated with T-cell mediated rejection mechanisms.
Similar lesions can appear in multiple disease contexts, complicating diagnosis.
Findings reinforce the need to consider antibody independent mechanisms.

Abstract

The allograft kidney is after all a kidney and can be affected by all diseases that are described in the native organ. On the other hand, the number of lesions that can be recognized by histopathology is limited. Therefore, the same lesion may be seen in more than one disease. The current issue of this journal has a nice article illustrating this point for transplant glomerulitis (TG), a lesion sometimes considered almost synonymous with antibody mediated rejection (AMR)1. The authors systematically studied 271 biopsies with glomerulitis, comparing them with rejection without glomerulitis (n=612) and donor specific antibody (DSA) negative normal tissues (n=1442).

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