Contemporary kidney transplantation has a limited impact on bone microarchitecture

Catarina Meng; Hanne Skou Jørgensen; Lieve Verlinden; Nathalie Bravenboer; Henriette de Loor; Patrick C D'Haese; Geert Carmeliet; Pieter Evenepoel

doi:10.1016/j.bonr.2022.101172

Contemporary kidney transplantation has a limited impact on bone microarchitecture

Bone Rep. 2022 Feb 7:16:101172. doi: 10.1016/j.bonr.2022.101172. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Catarina Meng^{1

2}, Hanne Skou Jørgensen^{1

3}, Lieve Verlinden⁴, Nathalie Bravenboer⁵, Henriette de Loor¹, Patrick C D'Haese⁶, Geert Carmeliet⁴, Pieter Evenepoel^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Nephrology and Renal Transplantation Research Group, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
³ Department of Kidney Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Laboratory of Clinical and Experiment Endocrinology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Clinical Chemistry, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁶ Laboratory of Pathophysiology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
⁷ Department of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Abstract

Bone microarchitecture is an important component of bone quality and disturbances may reduce bone strength and resistance to trauma. Kidney transplant recipients have an excess risk of fractures, and bone loss affecting both trabecular and cortical bone compartments have been demonstrated after kidney transplantation. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of kidney transplantation on trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture, assessed by histomorphometry and micro computed tomography (μCT). Iliac crest bone biopsies, analyzed by bone histomorphometry and μCT, were performed at time of kidney transplantation and 12 months post-transplantation in an unselected cohort of 30 patients. Biochemical markers of mineral metabolism and bone turnover were measured at both time-points. At 12 months post-transplantation, bone turnover was low in 5 (17%) and normal in 25 (83%) patients. By histomorphometry, bone remodeling normalized, with decreases in eroded perimeters (4.0 to 2.1%, p = 0.02) and number of patients with marrow fibrosis (41 to 0%, p < 0.001). By μCT, trabecular thickness (134 to 125 μM, p = 0.003) decreased slightly. Other parameters of bone volume and microarchitecture, including cortical thickness (729 to 713 μm, p = 0.73) and porosity (10.2 to 9.5%, p = 0.15), remained stable. We conclude that kidney transplantation with current immunosuppressive protocols has a limited impact on bone microarchitecture.

Keywords: 2D, two-dimensional; 3D, three-dimensional; BALP, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase; BMD, bone mineral density; Bone density; Bone histomorphometry; CKD, chronic kidney disease; Chronic kidney disease – mineral and bone disorder; DXA, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry; HRpQCT, high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography; Kidney transplantation; Osteoporosis; PINP, intact pro-collagen type I N-terminal pro-peptide; PTH, parathyroid hormone; TMV, Turnover, mineralization, and volume; TRAP5b, tartrate resistant acid phosphatase type 5b; X-Ray Microtomography; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; μCT, micro computed tomography.