No abstract

We evaluated a chronic renal injury in 37 cardiac transplant recipients treated for 12 to 24 months with cyclosporine (CsA). Twenty-four cardiac transplant recipients treated with azathioprine for more than 24 months served as controls. Despite equivalent cardiac performance, GFR in those treated with CsA was depressed, 47 +/- 3 versus 94 +/- 4 ml/min/1.73 m2 (P less than 0.001). CsA therapy was also associated with significant elevation of renal vascular resistance (RVR), proteinuria, arterial hypertension, and impaired intrarenal conversion of inactive prorenin to active renin. Histopathological changes associated with CsA included an obliterative arteriolopathy with deposition of proteinaceous material in necrotic arteriolar walls, and associated tubulointerstitial damage. A minority of glomeruli exhibited either ischemic collapse or sclerosis. Area perimeter analysis revealed enlargement of the remaining glomeruli with significant expansion of the mesangium. Longitudinal examination over a 48 month period (N = 15) during which CsA was reduced in dosage or withdrawn revealed persistent hypofiltration, increasingly elevated RVR and heavier proteinuria. Further histopathological deterioration was observed when renal tissue was sampled a second time in six patients, and three members of the experimental group developed end-stage renal disease. We conclude that continuous CsA therapy for more than 12 months causes a chronic injury to renal microvessels that is rarely reversible and potentially progressive.

There has been no evidence of significant HIV progression and no adverse effect of HIV on allograft function. Rejection is a concern in kidney transplant recipients, as is the possible poor outcome in hepatitis C virus-coinfected liver transplant recipients. Preliminary data are encouraging and indicate that transplantation should be a treatment option for individuals with well-controlled HIV disease.

The impact of donor‐specific HLA alloantibodies (DSA) on short‐ and long‐term liver transplant outcome is not clearly defined. While it is clear that not all levels of allosensitization produce overt clinical injury, and that liver allografts possess some degree of alloantibody resistance, alloantibody‐mediated adverse consequences are increasingly being recognized. To better define the current state of this topic, we assembled experts to provide insights, explore controversies and develop recommendations for future research on the consequences of DSA in liver transplantation. This article summarizes the proceedings of this inaugural meeting. Several insights emerged. Acute antibody‐mediated rejection (AMR), although rarely diagnosed, is increasingly understood to overlap with T cell–mediated rejection. Isolated liver allograft recipients are at increased risk of early allograft immunologic injury when preformed DSA are high titer and persist posttransplantation. Persons who undergo simultaneous liver–kidney transplantation are at risk of renal AMR when Class II DSA persist posttransplantation. Other under‐appreciated DSA associations include ductopenia and fibrosis, plasma cell hepatitis, biliary strictures and accelerated fibrosis associated with recurrent liver disease. Standardized DSA testing and diagnostic criteria for both acute and chronic AMR are needed to distil existing associations into etiological processes in order to develop responsive therapeutic strategies.