Abstract: Kidney transplantation is an effective treatment for endstage renal disease. Allograft injury is a major influential factor of allograft survival. Commonly used surveillance methods, such as plasma creatinine, proteinuria, and kidney biopsy, were found to be hysteresis, uncertainty and invasiveness. Donorderived cellfree DNA (ddcfDNA) is a fragmented and degradable DNA fragment derived from transplanted organs. Sudies have shown that ddcfDNA plays a pivotal role in the monitoring of allograft injury, discerning allograft rejection, and guiding immunosuppressant management. As a novel biomarker, ddcfDNA is noninvasive, reproducible and highly sensitive. This article will review the recent research progress on the ddcfDNA in kidney transplantation.

Key words: donor-derived cell-free DNA, kidney transplantation, biomarkers