Marginal Impact of Tocilizumab Monotherapy on Anti-HLA Alloantibodies in Highly Sensitized Kidney Transplant Candidates.

Background: Highly HLA-sensitized kidney transplant candidates are difficult to desensitize, which reduces their chances of receiving a transplant.

Methods: We administered tocilizumab as a monotherapy (8 mg/kg once a mo) to 14 highly sensitized kidney transplant candidates. Highest mean fluorescence intensities of anti-HLA antibodies obtained before and after tocilizumab administration were compared from raw and diluted sera.

Treatment of antibody-mediated rejection with double-filtration plasmapheresis, low dose IVIg plus rituximab after kidney transplantation.

Antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) at early or late post-transplantation remains challenging. We performed a single-center single-arm study where four cases of acute ABMR and nine cases of chronic active ABMR (defined by Banff classification) were treated with double-filtration plasmapheresis (two cycles of three consecutive daily sessions with a 4-day gap between). At the end of the third and sixth DFPP sessions, the patients received rituximab 375 mg/m .

Systematic Screening Using Luminex for De Novo C3d Fixing of Class II Donor-Specific Antibodies Is Correlated With Luminex Mean Fluorescence Intensity in Renal Transplant Patients.

Objectives: Chronic antibody-mediated rejection is the main cause of late kidney graft loss. The presence of donor-specific antibodies in the serum is the main criterion for this diagnosis. Single antigen Luminex assays can identify donor-specific antibodies, and semiquantitative estimates of antibodies can be assessed using mean fluorescence intensity.