Lower levels of a protein found in brain-dead organ donors are associated with increased survival in patients receiving those transplanted organs, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh researchers.

In the study, published in this month's issue of the journal Critical Care Medicine, researchers evaluated data from 30 brain-dead organ donors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Those donors provided 91 organs for transplant to 78 recipients between April and November 2004.

Researchers measured bloodstream levels of several immune system proteins in brain-dead donors prior to transplant. They also followed recipients, whose transplants occurred at many hospitals around the country, through May 2005.

The study found that lower concentrations of the protein interleukin-6 in the bloodstreams of donors "were significantly associated with improved survival" of organ recipients, John Kellum, the study's senior author and a professor at the Pitt medical school, said in a statement released yesterday. Those recipients also were less likely to have serious complications following their transplants, he said.

While it is too early to recommend routine screening of the protein levels in potential organ donors, the researchers said confirmation of the study's findings might lead to protocols that could improve organ selection and patient outcomes.

Besides Dr. Kellum, study authors included the lead author, Raghavan Murugan, and Ramesh Venkataraman, Michele Elder, Melinda Carter and Nicholas Madden, all of Pitt's department of critical care medicine; Abdus Wahed of Pitt's department of biostatistics; and Georgene Hergenroeder and David Powner of the University of Texas Health Science Center.

The study was supported by funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.