Experimental study on genistein prevention and treatment of transplant arteriosclerosis in aortic transplants of rat.

Author(s): Zhu GC, Ding Z, Chen ZS, Dong C, Guo H, Chen BC

Affiliation(s): Institute of Organ Transplantation, Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation (HUST), Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation (HUST), Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Publication date & source: 2006-12, Transplant Proc., 38(10):3307-8.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to study the effects of genistein, a soy isoflavone, on transplant arteriosclerosis, in addition to its immunosuppressive and antioxidant properties. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed male Brown-Norway to male Lewis aortic transplantation. The recipients were randomly assigned to 3 groups: no treatment controls, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 5 mL/kg) solvent controls, and experimental group that received genistein (20 mg/kg/d) by daily intraperitoneal injection. On postoperative day 60, the graft was harvested and blood obtained. The transplanted aorta was analyzed by histology and immunohistochemistry. The serum was analyzed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Compared with the 2 controls, leukocyte recruitment to the graft was significantly inhibited by genistein, with a profound reduction in the number of CD69 macrophages infiltrating the adventitia of the transplanted aortas. Moreover, genistein significantly inhibited the expression of VEGF and IFN-gamma production (P < .01). CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein inhibited graft arteriosclerosis.