Safety of Direct‐Acting Antiviral Therapy for Renal Function in Post‐Kidney Transplant Patients Infected with Hepatitis C Virus and a 100% 12‐Week Sustained Virologic Response: A Single‐Center Study

Abstract

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection after renal transplantation has been controversial due to the high rate of graft rejections with interferon (IFN)‐based therapies. The aim of this study is to review our experience of direct acting antiviral therapy for the recipients of renal transplantation. Eleven recipients who were hepatitis C virus‐polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive were eligible for the treatment with direct acting antivirals. Six recipients were treated with sofosbuvir and ledipasvir, three were treated with elbasvir and grazoprevir, and one was treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 12 weeks. One recipient was treated with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir for 8 weeks. All of the 11 recipients exhibited sustained virologic response at week 12 after the end of treatment. Adverse events were scarce including the two recipients who switched to tacrolimus from cyclosporine at the beginning of the treatment. The direct acting antiviral therapy including new agents appears to be safe and highly efficacious for the recipients after renal transplantation.

Efficacy and safety of new direct-acting antivirals in kidney transplant recipients with chronic hepatitis C: a single-center study

“…Currently, only few studies in the literature, most of which included relatively small numbers of patients, have focused on KT recipients with CHC treated with DAAs (Table 4) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. (Table 4) that DAAs are highly effective in KT recipients, offering SVR rates comparable to those achieved in the non-transplant setting and therefore representing major progress in the elimination of HCV infection in this setting.…”

Eradication of hepatitis C virus infection in kidney transplant recipients using direct‐acting antiviral therapy: Qatar experience

“…Although significant treatment success has been achieved in non‐kidney transplant patients, the success rate for DAA therapy in kidney transplant recipients has varied from 89% to 100% 11,18–24 . Colombo et al 25 performed a phase 2 randomized trial involving kidney transplant recipients treated with DAA and reported SVR rates of 100% and 96% at 3 and 6 months, respectively.…”