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Research reveals novel insights into transplant rejection and new drug development targets

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By Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Imagine a day when a urine test could inform a doctor precisely why a kidney transplant patient was experiencing organ rejection and suggest the best medication for specifically addressing the problem.

That day took a leap closer to reality thanks to a remarkable set of single-cell analyses that have identified the most specific cellular signatures to date for kidney transplant rejection. The findings were detailed May 25, 2023, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Read more in Medical Xpress.

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Race-free eGFR for transplantation offers a more accurate measurement for recipients

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By Mark E. Neumann

A new race-free eGFR equation designed specifically for evaluating organ recipients post-transplant offers a more accurate measurement, a researcher said at the American Transplant Congress.

Marc Raynaud, PhD, MSc, lead scientist at Paris Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration, told attendees that previously created eGFR equation measures used for transplantation have had limited success because they were developed for use on native kidneys, created based on U.S.-only patient data, which may limit their generalizability, and have shown suboptimal performance in measuring GFR in transplanted kidneys. Read the full article in Healio.

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Outgoing transplant society president says organ supply, outcomes remain challenges

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By Mark E. Neumann

Despite advances in the last 7 decades, some challenges remain for transplantation, including a limited organ supply and improving long-term outcomes, the outgoing president of the American Society of Transplantation said in a presentation.

“Two decades ago, I attended my first [American Transplant Congress] ATC meeting and fell in love with transplantation,” Deepali Kumar, MD, MSc, FRCP(C), a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and director of transplant infectious diseases at the University Health Network, told attendees at the ATC in San Diego. Read more in Healio.

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Transplant medicine contends with organ shortage and pandemic-related disruptions

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By Caitlyn Stulpin

Transplant medicine and the field of transplant infectious diseases have faced numerous disruptions and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to experts.

“The number of transplants declined transiently during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but are now at the pre-pandemic level and growing overall,” Sarah Taimur, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told Healio | Infectious Disease News. Read the full story in Healio.

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U-M Health performs its first heart transplant after cardiac death

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The patient received a new heart after years of severe symptoms due to a congenital heart condition

By Michigan Medicine

Newswise — As the number of heart transplants performed across the United States continues to grow, surgeons at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center are taking advantage of technology that could increase its transplant yield by as much as 30%.

In March, transplant surgeons in Ann Arbor completed the health system’s first heart transplant using an organ from a donor who had recently died — a process called donation after circulatory death, or DCD. The patient, a man in his 30s, received the heart after years of deteriorating due to congenital heart failure.
Read more from Michigan Medicine.

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Algorithm Predicts Post-Transplantation Survival

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A machine-learning algorithm could offer personalized predictions of life expectancy following lung transplantation, research suggests.

The random survival forests (RSF) model had “excellent performance” in predicting both survival overall and at the specific time points of one month and a year, revealed the researchers. Read more in Inside Precision Medicine.

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One in 10 solid organ transplant recipients develops bacteremia 1 year after transplant

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By Caitlyn Stulpin

Nearly 10% of solid organ transplant recipients may develop bacteremia in the first year after transplant, according to a study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

“There are limited contemporary robust data on the epidemiology of bacteremia during the first fragile year after a solid organ transplantation,” Dionysios Neofytos, MD, specialist in the division of infectious diseases at the University Hospital of Geneva, told Healio. Read more in Healio.

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U-M study may help identify patients needing liver transplants

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by Mary Corey

A recent study conducted by a team of University of Michigan medical researchers may help to identify which patients suffering from acute liver failure need liver transplants to live and which can survive without them, helping hospitals more effectively allocate organ donations. With the overall mortality rate of acute liver failure reaching almost 50%, the researchers set out to find a way to tell which patients most urgently need a liver transplant and which can likely survive without. Read more in The Michigan Daily.

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