Selected genetic factors modifying the natural course of viral infections in organ transplant settings

Solid organ transplantation (SOT) represents a life-saving procedure and a future perspective for patients suffering from organ failure. On the other hand, SOT recipients are burdened with numerous complications, including infections or lifelong administration of immunosuppressive medication. There are several well-known factors related to graft and patient survival, including general health status, age at the time of SOT, diagnosis leading to SOT, acute or antibody-mediated rejection, development of the metabolic syndrome and complications including viral diseases. Viral infections in SOT recipients may present with a very distinct natural history compared with the healthy population. Several can cause immune activation leading to graft rejection; others can be associated more likely with immune tolerance. We aimed to identify the impact of variants of selected genes on the natural history of various viral diseases in SOT recipients and thus their overall outcome, morbidity and graft survival. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common viral infection in SOT recipients. We focused on the role of the IL28B rs12979860 locus genotype in the risk of CMV disease occurrence. We proved the T allele is associated with a more frequent occurrence of CMV disease in liver transplant (LTx) recipients...