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Remdesivir-Resistant Version of COVID-19 Detected in Organ Transplant Recipients

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Recent studies have shown that patients with weakened immune systems—which enables the virus that causes COVID-19 to remain longer in the body, copy itself, and continually change—may enable the development of new, slightly different versions of the virus (variants). These people include those treated with drugs that suppress the immune system to keep it from rejecting a newly transplanted organ.

A new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine shows that two people with kidney transplants who were treated with immunosuppressive drugs, and who later had a lengthy COVID-19 infection, developed a version of the virus with a genetic change (mutation) that made it resistant to the antiviral therapy remdesivir. Read more from NYU Langone Health News Hub.

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Transplant Patients Experience Less Pain and Fewer Adverse Events with CareDx Non-Invasive Testing Solutions

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Study Reaffirms Benefits of AlloMap, the Industry’s Only Gene-Expression Profiling Blood Test, for Heart Transplant Rejection Surveillance

BRISBANE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNA) – The Transplant Company™ focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value healthcare solutions for transplant patients and caregivers – today announced a new peer-reviewed publication showing that AlloMap®, the industry’s only gene-expression profiling (GEP) blood test to non-invasively assess graft rejection by monitoring immune quiescence in heart transplant patients,1 resulted in less pain and fewer adverse events compared to heart biopsy.2 The study also highlights that the associated AlloMap blood test draw can be performed in the patient’s home to help reduce the risk of exposure to infection. Read the complete press release on CareDx.com.

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CareDx Congratulates Board Member Dr. Grace Colón for Being Named Healthcare Innovator on Top 50 Most Powerful Latinas List

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The Association of Latino Professionals For America Recognizes the Most Powerful Latinas in Business, Technology, Healthcare, and Non-Profit Sectors

BRISBANE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNA) – The Transplant Company™ focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value healthcare solutions for transplant patients and caregivers – today announced that Dr. Grace Colón, a member of its Board of Directors, has been named on the 2022 Most Powerful Latinas list by The Association of Latino Professionals For America (ALPFA).

“We congratulate Dr. Colón for being named a healthcare innovator by ALPFA and for her significant contribution in driving innovation to improve patient care,” said Michael D. Goldberg, Chairman of the Board, CareDx. “As Chair of CareDx’s Science and Technology Committee she has played an invaluable role in helping shape the company’s innovation agenda focused on improving the transplant patient journey.”
Read the complete press release on CareDx.com.

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Patient receives Pacific Northwest’s first donation-after-circulatory-death heart transplant

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On Aug. 11, LifeCenter Northwest, the Organ Procurement Organization for Washington, and UW Medicine’s heart transplant team together facilitated the Pacific Northwest’s first donation-after-circulatory-death (DCD) heart transplant.

The patient, Ryan Stovall, 48, a resident of Beaver Creek, Oregon, is recovering well in Seattle. Read more from News Medical Life Sciences.

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Everything You Need to Know About Being a Living Liver Donor

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With over 105,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, it should be no surprise that organ donation is one of the most important medical procedures of our time. In 2021 alone, more than 11,800 people on the national transplant list were waiting specifically for a liver transplant.

But what does the journey of a liver transplant involve, exactly? And what does this process look like for living liver donors who make the choice to donate a part of their liver?
Read more from Healthline.

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What you need to know about COVID-19 in 2022

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As has been previously reported and most already know, the virus that causes COVID-19 changes over time. The updated COVID-19 vaccine bivalent boosters include components of the original virus strain and the Omicron variant. This updated booster is called a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster because it is effective against two different strains of the virus

The updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters are designed to give you broad protection against COVID-19, including better protection against the Omicron variant. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.

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Eye Damage Can Start in Prediabetes

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— Study found significant corneal nerve damage even before full-blown type 2 diabetes

Elevated blood glucose poses a threat to the eyes even prior to a diabetes diagnosis, according to a Dutch population study.

In cross-sectional data of Maastricht Study participants, a more adverse glucose metabolism status was linked with a lower z score of corneal nerve fiber measures compared with a normal status (-0.14, 95% CI -0.25 to -0.04, P for trend=0.001), reported Sara Mokhtar, a PhD student at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Graft and Patient Survival Following Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplant

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For patients with diabetes and end-stage kidney disease, the only persistently successful treatment is simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant (SPK). However, according to M. Ji and colleagues, SPK has a technical failure rate of 7% to 22%. Technical failure is defined as a graft loss within 3 months of transplantation.

The researchers conducted a study designed to quantify the impact of 3-month pancreas function on kidney graft failure and patient survival following SPK in patients with type 1 diabetes. Read more from Nephrology Times.

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1M organ transplants – what comes next?

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The director of the Hume-Lee Transplant Center reflects on the milestone of 1 million transplanted organs in the U.S. and what’s next for the world of transplantation.

In September 2022, the United States reached 1 million organ transplants. Far outpacing other countries with this accomplishment, the demand for transplants still drastically outweighs the supply. Currently, the national organ waitlist is over 100,000 people and many die on the waitlist.

To learn more about how VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center is working to meet this demand and what’s next for the future of transplants, we sat down with Dr. Marlon Levy, chief medical officer at VCU Medical Center and director of the transplant center.
Read the full story from VCU Health.

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