Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42086617›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

The natural killer-cellular humoral activation test as a functional biomarker of antibody-mediated rejection after kidney transplantation.

Jin-Myung Kim, So Hyeon Yun, Hye Eun Kwon, Youngmin Ko, Joo Hee Jung, Hyunwook Kwon, Young Hoon Kim, Hun Sik Kim, Sung Shin

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Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jin-Myung Kim *Division of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
So Hyeon Yun *Department of Microbiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Hye Eun KwonDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Youngmin KoDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Joo Hee JungDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Hyunwook KwonDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Young Hoon KimDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Hun Sik KimDepartment of Microbiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea. hunkim@amc.seoul.kr.
Sung ShinDivision of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea. sshin@amc.seoul.kr.

Funding

Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Asan Medical Center 2021IL0004Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the government of Korea RS-2023-00208037
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) is a major cause of graft failure after kidney transplantation, yet current diagnostics do not directly assess effector immune activity. Natural killer (NK) cells contribute to ABMR through antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, but clinically applicable functional assays are lacking. We evaluated the Natural Killer-Cellular Humoral Activation Test (NK-CHAT), a functional assay quantifying antibody-dependent NK cell activation, as a non-invasive biomarker of ABMR. Fourteen kidney transplant recipients within six months post-transplantation were studied, including biopsy-confirmed ABMR (n = 7) and no major abnormalities (n = 7). NK cell activation was assessed longitudinally by CD107a degranulation and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production after exposure to donor cells coated with recipient serum. CD107a-based NK-CHAT activity was significantly higher in ABMR recipients and detectable early after transplantation, whereas IFN-γ production did not differ between groups. These findings suggest that NK-CHAT captures functional NK cell activation associated with ABMR and may serve as a proof-of-concept functional assay with potential relevance to ABMR-associated immune activation.

Indexed as

Graft RejectionImmunity, HumoralKidney TransplantationKiller Cells, NaturalAdultAntibody-Dependent Cell CytotoxicityBiomarkersFemaleHumansInterferon-gammaLymphocyte ActivationMaleMiddle AgedBiomarkersInterferon-gammaAntibody-mediated rejection (ABMR)Donor-specific antibodies (DSA)Functional immune biomarkersKidney transplantationNatural killer cellNK-CHAT assay

Identifiers

PMID42086617
PMCPMC13333989

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.