scholarly journals Strategy to achieve biomarker-driven immunosuppression after solid organ transplantation by an academic-industry partnership within the European BIO-DrIM consortium

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Hans-Dieter Volk ◽  
Bernhard Banas ◽  
Frederike Bemelman ◽  
Oriol Bestard ◽  
Sophie Brouard ◽  
...  

Solid organ transplantation has emerged as the “gold standard” therapy for end-stage organ failure as it improves both quality of life and survival. Despite the progress in short-term graft survival, that is closely associated with the impressive reduction of acute rejections within the first year, long-term graft and patient survival remain almost un-changed and unsatisfactory. Incomplete control of chronic allograft injury but particularly the adverse effects of long-term immunosuppression, such as graft toxicity, diabetes, cardiovascular events, infections, and tumours continue to challenge the long-term success. In general, immunosuppression is applied as one-size-fits-all strategy. This can result in over- and under-immunosuppression of patients with low and high alloresponsiveness, respectively. Trial- and -error strategies to minimize or even completely wean of immunosuppression have a high failure rate. Consequently, there is an unmet medical need to develop biomarkers allowing objective risk stratification of transplant patients. To achieve this goal, we engaged in an academic-industrial partnership. The central focus of the European-wide BIO-DrIM consortium (BIOmarker-Driven IMmmunosuppression) is the implementation of biomarker-guided strategies for personalizing immunosuppression to improve the long-term outcome and to decrease the adverse effects and costs of chronic immunosuppression in solid organ transplant patients. The concept includes four innovative investigator-driven clinical trials designed by the consortium.

2008 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1033.e1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Frischmeyer-Guerrerio ◽  
Julia Wisniewski ◽  
Robert A. Wood ◽  
Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Mina Al-Badri ◽  
Kunam Reddy ◽  
Paru David ◽  
Raymond Heilman ◽  
Christine Snozek ◽  
...  

A 21-year-old female with end stage renal disease underwent a non-related renal transplantation from a deceased pregnant donor. The recipient had a negative serum pregnancy test prior to her surgery. However postoperatively, a rise in her serum human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) level, which lasted several days, was documented. Solid organ transplantation is known to transmit various infections, malignant cells and antibodies from donor to recipient but no previous reports described transmission of hCG. This case report highlights the importance of considering this possibility when managing post-transplantation hormonal disturbances. Further research is warranted to evaluate the different mechanisms through which transmission occurs between donor and recipient.


2003 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Duchini ◽  
John A. Goss ◽  
Saul Karpen ◽  
Paul J. Pockros

SUMMARY Recipients of solid-organ transplantation are at risk of severe infections due to their life-long immunosuppression. Despite emerging evidence that vaccinations are safe and effective among immunosuppressed patients, most vaccines are still underutilized in these patients. The efficacy, safety, and protocols of several vaccines in this patient population are poorly understood. Timing of vaccination appears to be critical because response to vaccinations is decreased in patients with end-stage organ disease and in the first 6 months after transplantation. For these reasons, the primary immunizations should be given before transplantation, as early as possible during the course of disease. Vaccination strategy should include vaccination of household contacts and health care workers at transplant centers unless contraindicated. No conclusive data are available on the use of immunoadjuvants and screening for protective titers. Most vaccines appear to be safe in solid-organ transplantation recipients, but live vaccines should be avoided until further studies are available. The risk of rejection appears minimal. Recommended vaccines include pneumovax, hepatitis A and B, influenza, and tetanus-diphtheria. We outline specific protocols and recommendations in this particular patient population. Specific contraindications exist for other vaccines, such as yellow fever, oral polio vaccine, bacillus Calmette-Guerin, and vaccinia. We conclude that solid-organ recipients will benefit from consistent immunization practices. Further studies are recommended to improve established protocols in this patient population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (28) ◽  
pp. 3497-3506
Author(s):  
Raymund R. Razonable

Cytomegalovirus is the classic opportunistic infection after solid organ transplantation. This review will discuss updates and future directions in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of CMV infection in solid organ transplant recipients. Antiviral prophylaxis and pre-emptive therapy are the mainstays of CMV prevention, but they should not be mutually exclusive and each strategy should be considered depending on a specific situation. The lack of a widely applicable viral load threshold for diagnosis and preemptive therapy is emphasized as a major factor that should pave the way for an individualized approach to prevention. Valganciclovir and intravenous ganciclovir remain as drugs of choice for CMV management, and strategies for managing drug-resistant CMV infection are enumerated. There is increasing use of CMV-specific cell-mediated immune assays to stratify the risk of CMV infection after solid organ transplantation, and their potential role in optimizing CMV prevention and treatment efforts is discussed.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e043731
Author(s):  
Adnan Sharif ◽  
Javeria Peracha ◽  
David Winter ◽  
Raoul Reulen ◽  
Mike Hawkins

IntroductionSolid organ transplant patients are counselled regarding increased risk of cancer (principally due to their need for lifelong immunosuppression) and it ranks as one of their biggest self-reported worries. Post-transplantation cancer is common, associated with increased healthcare costs and emerging as a leading cause of post-transplant mortality. However, epidemiology of cancer post-transplantation remains poorly understood, with limitations including translating data from different countries and national data being siloed across different registries and/or data warehouses.Methods and analysisStudy methodology for Epidemiology of Cancer after Solid Organ Transplantation involves record linkage between the UK Transplant Registry (from NHS Blood and Transplant), Hospital Episode Statistics (for secondary care episodes from NHS Digital), National Cancer Registry (from cancer registration data hosted by Public Health England) and the National Death Registry (from NHS Digital). Deterministic record linkage will be conducted by NHS Digital, with a fully anonymised linked dataset available for analysis by the research team. The study cohort will consist of up to 85 410 solid organ transplant recipients,who underwent a solid organ transplant in England between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2015, with up-to-date outcome data.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the Confidentiality Advisory Group (reference: 16/CAG/0121), Research Ethics Committee (reference: 15/YH/0320) and Institutional Review Board (reference: RRK5471). The results of this study will be presented at national and international conferences, and manuscripts with results will be submitted for publication in high-impact peer-reviewed journals. The information produced will also be used to develop national evidence-based clinical guidelines to inform risk stratification to enable risk-based clinical follow-up.Trial registration numberNCT02991105.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 1314-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suruchi Gupta ◽  
Teresa Pollack ◽  
Candice Fulkerson ◽  
Kathleen Schmidt ◽  
Diana Johnson Oakes ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective To characterize the types of hyperglycemia that occur up to 1 year following liver transplant and to clarify the nomenclature for posttransplant hyperglycemia. Design We analyzed 1-year glycemic follow-up data in 164 patients who underwent liver transplant and who had been enrolled in a randomized controlled trial comparing moderate to intensive insulin therapy to determine if patients had preexisting known diabetes, transient hyperglycemia, persistent hyperglycemia, or new-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT). Results Of 119 patients with posttransplant hyperglycemia following hospital discharge, 49 had preexisting diabetes, 5 had insufficient data for analysis, 48 had transient hyperglycemia (16 resolved within 30 days and 32 resolved between 30 days and 1 year), 13 remained persistently hyperglycemic out to 1 year and most likely had preexisting diabetes that had not been diagnosed or insulin resistance/insulinopenia prior to transplant, and 4 had NODAT (i.e., patients with transient hyperglycemia after transplant that resolved but then later truly developed sustained hyperglycemia, meeting criteria for diabetes). Conclusions Distinct categories of patients with hyperglycemia following organ transplant include known preexisting diabetes, persistent hyperglycemia (most likely unknown preexisting diabetes or insulin resistance/insulinopenia), transient hyperglycemia, and NODAT. Those with preexisting diabetes for many years prior to transplant may well have very different long-term outcomes compared with those with true NODAT. Therefore, it would be prudent to classify patients more carefully. Long-term outcome studies are needed to determine if patients with true NODAT have the same poor prognosis as patients with preexisting diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed) undergoing transplant.


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