May 31: Recent transplant news

Discarded human kidneys as a source of ECM scaffold for kidney regeneration technologies
NCBI
In the United States, more than 2600 kidneys are discarded annually, from the total number of kidneys procured for transplant. It has been hypothesized that this organ pool may be used as a platform for renal bioengineering and regeneration research. The purpose of the current study was to test if the same strategy can be applied to discarded human kidneys in order to obtain human renal ECM scaffolds. The results show that the sodium dodecylsulfate-based decellularization protocol completely cleared the cellular compartment in these kidneys, while the innate ECM framework retained its architecture and biochemical properties. Read more. 

Short disease duration, worsening inflammatory bowel disease linked after liver transplantation
Healio
Liver transplant recipients with inflammatory bowel disease are more likely to experience worsening disease posttransplant with shorter disease duration, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week. Researchers performed a retrospective chart analysis of 924 patients who underwent liver transplantation (LT) between 1998 and 2012. The cohort included 45 patients with posttransplant IBD, including 38 with previous IBD and seven who developed de novo IBD after the procedure. IBD severity was determined according to symptoms, complications, hospitalizations because of flares and use of steroids or immunosuppressive medications. Read more. 

Lung transplant outcomes in cystic fibrosis patients with pre-operative Mycobacterium abscessus respiratory infections
Clinical Transplantation (login required)
Mycobacterium abscessus in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is considered a contraindication to lung transplantation. A recent study examined the posttransplant outcomes of CF patients with M. abscessus pre-transplant. Read more.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells: No longer an enigma and now key to transplant tolerance?
American Journal of Transplantation (login required)
Plasmacytoid (p) dendritic cells (DC) are a specialized subset of DC whose primary role was initially defined by the production of type I interferons in response to viral infection. They are now known to also possess a repertoire of functions capable of determining T cell fate and activation. Under homeostatic conditions, non-lymphoid tissue-resident pDC play a critical role in the regulation of mucosal immunity, as well as the development of central and peripheral tolerance. Although these cells display a number of characteristics that differ from conventional DC, particularly altered costimulatory molecule expression and poor allostimulatory capacity when interacting with T cells, this phenotype favors the generation of alloantigen-specific regulatory CD4 or CD8 T cells critical to the development of graft tolerance. This minireview details pDC ontogeny, functional biology and the emerging data that demonstrate the importance of pDC in the induction of tolerance, as well as recent studies that define mechanisms underlying pDC-mediated tolerance to both solid organ and haematopoietic stem cell transplants. Read more. 

Trial: Tacrolimus plus mycophenolate mofetil vs. cyclosporine plus everolimus in deceased donor kidney transplant recipients
Clinical Transplantation (login required)
In a recent clinical trial, researchers compared in kidney transplantation two immunosuppressive regimens: Tacrolimus plus mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) (TAC) and everolimus plus low-dose cyclosporine (EVE). Sixty consecutive patients received TAC (30 patients) or EVE (30 patients) as immunosuppressive regimen; all subjects also received induction with basiliximab and corticosteroids. Read more. 

Long-term follow-up of endoscopic therapy for stenosis of the biliobiliary anastomosis associated with orthotopic liver transplantation
Liver Transplantation (login requied)
Endoscopic treatment for stenosis of an anastomotic biliary stricture (ABS) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has been proven to be effective and safe, but the long-term outcomes and the risk factors for recurrence are unknown. All 374 patients who underwent OLT at Frankfurt University Hospital were screened for the occurrence of ABSs. Read more.

Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells can survive and integrate into the adult rat eye following xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation (login required)
Novel threads of discovery provide the basis for optimism for the development of a stem-cell-based strategy for the treatment of retinal blindness. Accordingly, achievement to suitable cell source with potential-to-long-term survival and appropriate differentiation can be an effective step in this direction. Read more.