Peripheral phenotype and gene expression profiles of combined liver-kidney transplant patients

Background and Aims The beneficial effect of one graft on another has been reported in combined transplantation but the associated mechanisms and biological influence of each graft have not yet been established. Methods In multiple analyses, we explored the PBMC phenotype and signature of 45 immune‐related messenger RNAs and 754 microRNAs from a total of 235 patients, including combined liver–kidney transplant recipients (CLK), patients with a liver (L‐STA) or kidney (K‐STA) graft only under classical immunosuppression and patients with tolerated liver (L‐TOL) or kidney grafts (K‐TOL). Results CLK show an intermediary phenotype with a higher percentage of peripheral CD19+CD24+CD38Low memory B cells and Helios+ Treg cells, two features associated with tolerance profiles, compared to L‐STA and K‐STA (P