Basic/Clinical Science Session
When Age Matters: Frailty, Immune Aging, and Vulnerability in Kidney Transplantation
October 22, 2026 | 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Location: Room 401, Convention Center
Session Description
Frailty and aging are increasingly recognized as biological states that reshape immune function and transplant outcomes beyond chronological age. Emerging evidence links immunosenescence, inflammaging, altered T-cell maturation, and organ-intrinsic biological aging to heterogeneity in alloimmune responses and graft vulnerability. This session integrates immune-, cellular-, and tissue-level mechanisms to examine how frailty and immune aging influence the biology and outcomes of kidney transplantation.
ASN thanks the AST Kidney-Pancreas Community of Practice for assistance with this session.
Learning Objective(s)
- Define key mechanisms of immunosenescence and inflammaging that reshape alloimmune responses in kidney transplantation
- Explain how frailty represents a biologically distinct immune state characterized by functional immune reprogramming
- Analyze cellular evidence of accelerated T-cell immunosenescence and skewed maturation in older kidney transplant recipients
- Describe how molecular pathology approaches can assess biological organ age in biopsies before kidney transplant, and explain the relevance of biological kidney age to graft vulnerability and outcomes
- Identify barriers to access and list disparities in kidney transplant candidates older than 70 years
Learning Pathway(s)
- Kidney Transplantation
- Geriatric Nephrology
Moderators
Presentations
- Immunosenescence and the Aging Alloimmune Response in Kidney Transplantation
02:00 PM - 02:30 PM
- Decoding Biological Kidney Age: Molecular Pathology of Pretransplant Biopsies
02:30 PM - 03:00 PM
- Accelerated T-Cell Immunosenescence and Skewed Maturation in Older Kidney Transplant Recipients
03:00 PM - 03:30 PM
- Trends and Barriers in Kidney Transplantation in the Population Aged 70 Years and Older
03:30 PM - 04:00 PM