IL2 Imaging in Renal Transplantation

After renal transplantation 5 to 10% of patients experience allograft rejection. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is vital for implementation of additional immunosuppressive therapy. Currently, a renal biopsy is essential for the diagnosis of renal allograft rejection. However, this is an intervention associated with complications like bleeding, patient discomfort and hospital admission. Additionally, limited biopsy sample size may lead to false negative results. So, the introduction of a new non-invasive diagnostic tool for allograft rejection could have major implications for the care of renal transplant recipients. For the purpose of visualizing infiltrating T lymphocytes with positron emission tomography (PET), the tracer 18-Fluor-Interleukin-2 (\[18F\]FB-IL2) has been developed. The investigators hypothesized that a high correlation exists between \[18F\]FB-IL2 uptake and the extend of T cell infiltration into renal transplants with signs of rejection