January 18 - Recent Transplant News

5-year outcomes in living donor kidney transplants with a positive crossmatch
Source: American Journal of Transplantation (subscription required)
Renal transplant candidates with high levels of donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies have low transplantation rates and high mortality rates on dialysis. Using desensitization protocols, good short-term outcomes are possible in "positive crossmatch kidney transplants ( XMKTx)," but long-term outcome data are lacking. The aim of the current study was to determine actual 5-year graft outcomes of XMKTx. Read more.

The rise of Clostridium difficile infection in lung transplant recipients in the modern era
Source: Clinical Transplantation (subscription required)
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates have been rising in recent years. We aimed to characterize CDI in lung transplant recipients in the modern era and hypothesized that CDI would increase the mortality risk. DI rates in lung transplant recipients are high in the modern era. No risk factors for CDI were identified. Read more.

Efficacy of the retreatment of hepatitis C virus infections after liver transplantation: Role of an aggressive approach
Source: Liver Transplantation
A sustained virological response (SVR) is achieved by 30 percent of naive liver transplantation (LT) recipients treated with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). Almost no data are available about retreatment. The aim a recent study was to assess the efficacy, tolerability and SVR predictors of retreatment. Read more.

Inactivation of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses in the process of chemical treatment and gamma irradiation of bovine-derived grafting materials
Source: Xenotransplantation (subscription required)
Xenografts, unlike other grafting products, cannot be commercialized unless they conform to stringent safety regulations. Particularly with bovine-derived materials, it is essential to remove viruses and inactivate infectious factors because of the possibility that raw materials are imbrued with infectious viruses. The removal of the characteristics of infectious viruses from the bovine bone grafting materials need to be proved and inactivation process should satisfy the management provision of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To date, while most virus inactivation studies were performed in human allograft tissues, there have been almost no studies on bovine bone. Read more.

Study: Conversion to enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium from mycophenolate mofetil in stable renal transplant patients
Source: Nephrology
Mycophenolate mofetil has proven efficacy in the prophylaxis of acute rejection in solid organ transplantation; however, gastrointestinal intolerance can risk this efficacy because of associated dose adjustments and discontinued treatment. Enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium has demonstrated improved gastrointestinal tolerability, but the data in Asian subjects are scarce. This study demonstrated that enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium is a safe and effective alternative to mycophenolate mofetil in Asian kidney transplant recipients. Read more.

Leptin modulates allograft survival by favoring a Th2 and a regulatory immune profile
Source: American Journal of Transplantation (subscription required)
Leptin, an adipose-secreted hormone, links metabolism and immunity. In a recent study, researchers sought to determine whether leptin affects the alloimmune response. Leptin deficiency results in an increased frequency of Treg and Th2 cells and a prolonged graft survival. These effects of leptin deficiency indicate the importance of leptin and obesity in modulating the allograft immune responses. Data suggest a possible explanation for the increased susceptibility of hyperleptinemic obese patients to acute and chronic graft rejection. Read more.

Travel and transplantation: Travel-related diseases in transplant recipients
Source: Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation
Travel-related diseases may be seen in transplant recipients after travel, after transplant tourism, and via transmission from blood and organ donors, augmented by recent increases in travel, migration, and globalization. Such infections include tuberculosis, Plasmodium (malaria), Babesia, Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease), Strongyloides, Coccidioides, Histoplasma, Leishmania, Brucella, HTLV, dengue, among numerous others. Read more.

Cord blood t cells retain early differentiation phenotype suitable for immunotherapy after TCR gene transfer to confer Epstein-Barr virus specificity
Source: American Journal of Transplantation (subscription required)
Adoptive T cell therapy can be effective for Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-associated posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease and melanoma. Transducing high-affinity TCR genes into T lymphocytes is an emerging method to improve potency and specificity of tumor-specific T cells. However, both methods necessitate in vitro lymphocyte proliferation, generating highly differentiated effector cells that display reduced survival and antitumor efficacy postinfusion. Read more.

Strategic breakthrough in adult ABO-incompatible living donor liver transplantation: Preliminary results of consecutive seven cases
Source: Clinical Transplantation (subscription required)
ABO-incompatibility is a major obstacle to expanding exiguous donor pools in adult liver transplantation, especially in countries where grafts from deceased donors are uncommon. A recent report documents preliminary results of ABO-incompatible (ABO-I) adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) using a new, simple protocol. Read more.