Impacts of high mobility group box protein 1 gene polymorphisms on morbidity and mortality after living donor liver transplantation

We investigated the effect of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) gene on morbidity and mortality after liver transplantation (LT). Among 120 LT recipients and their living donors, the genotypes of HMGB1, and the SNPs rs2249825, rs1045411, rs1412125, and rs1360485 were determined. There were no significant associations between these four SNPs and the incidence of rejection or mortality. However, the incidence of early allograft dysfunction (EAD) (n = 43), which presents as functional insufficiency within 1 week of LT, was significantly higher in recipients with the GC + CC allele of rs2249825 (n = 17/34) than in those with the GG allele (n = 26/86) (p = 0.044). Although the impact of donor HMGB1 SNPs on the incidence of EAD was not statistically significant, recipients with the GC + CC allele of rs2249825 who received liver grafts from donors with the same genotype had the highest incidence of EAD (p = 0.052). In contrast, the donor TC + CC allele of rs1412125 was an independent risk factor for the development of sepsis (n = 33) in LT recipient (OR = 3.05, 95 % CI = 1.18–7.87, p = 0.021). Thus, the SNPs of the HMGB1 gene in either recipients or donors were not associated with mortality but influenced the incidence of EAD and sepsis, likely being a predictive biomarker for the risk of serious complications after LT.