Long-term survival in a recipient of kidney transplant without maintenance immunosuppression: A case report

Operational tolerance of an allograft kidney is the optimal condition in patients following kidney transplantation and recipient-mediated immunological rejection still remains the primary challenge following transplantation. In the present study, a case of long-term survival is reported in a patient following kidney transplantation without maintenance immunosuppression therapies for >10 years. Although the pathological conditions of the transplanted kidney revealed a degree of impaired kidney function, the patient exhibited a serum creatinine level of 119.2 mu mol/l and no significant changes were observed in T or B cell biomarkers associated with immunologic tolerance. Notably, the patient's allograft was functioning normally. Consequently, further studies may need to elucidate the development of operational tolerance.