Correction of Serum Leptin after Successful Kidney Transplantation

Introduction: Serum leptin levels are increased in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients primarily due to decreased clearance by kidneys. As leptin is a 16 Kda protein, it is also not cleared even by dialysis using conventional dialyzers or by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Studies have shown that elevated leptin levels are corrected after successful renal transplantation. With this intention, we determined if restoration of renal function with kidney transplantation can reduce serum leptin concentration in CKD patients.
Materials and Methods: A total of 21 Patients undergoing living donor kidney transplantation were studied. There were 13 men and 8 women, from 16 to 45 years of age. All patients were receiving Hemodialysis prior to transplant. All patients received triple immunosuppressant therapy after the surgery. There were no graft rejections. Blood samples were collected under fasting conditions before and 6 days after transplantation.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 28.38±9.38 years. Pre transplantation leptin concentration was 9.96 + 3.48 ng/ml and this decreased to 4.07±1.7 ng/ml within six days of transplantation (p<0.0001). However there was no concomitant change in Body Mass Index (BMI) as the follow-up was too short. Plasma Creatinine level declined from 7.5±1.6 mg/dl to 1.1±0.7 mg/dl within six days after transplantation.
Conclusion: Successful renal transplantation immediately reduces serum leptin levels along with serum creatinine. The reduction in serum leptin levels after renal transplantation is likely due to reversal of renal function. Neither pre nor post transplant plasma Leptin levels correlated significantly with BMI in our study.