Detection of Angiotensin II type I-receptor antibodies in transplant glomerulopathy.

Background: Transplant glomerulopathy (TG) is an important cause of late graft loss. The role of angiotensin type 1-receptor antibodies (AT R-Ab) in TG is not known.

Methods: All the TG cases (N = 137) between January 2007 and December 2014 (N = 1410) were analyzed.

Treatment protocol with pulse and oral steroids for IgA Nephropathy after kidney transplantation.

Background: No specific treatment for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) after kidney transplantation is currently available.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center study on 29 patients with biopsy-proven de novo and recurrent IgAN after kidney transplantation, divided into two groups. Group 1 (n = 16) received intravenous methylprednisolone 500 mg per day for three consecutive days at the beginning of months 1, 3 and 5, plus oral prednisone 0.

Relationship among C1q-fixing de novo donor specific antibodies, C4d deposition and renal outcome in transplant glomerulopathy.

Background: The C1q-binding properties of donor specific antibodies (DSA) may be related to antibody-mediated rejection and poor outcome.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 35 kidney transplant recipients with transplant glomerulopathy (TG) and de novo DSA (dnDSA). C1q dnDSA were measured in the serum stored at renal biopsy and the association among C1q-fixing dnDSA, C4d deposition and graft loss was examined.

mTOR inhibitors for medical treatment of post-transplantation encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis: a favourable single center experience.

Background: Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is a serious complication in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) causing intestinal obstruction. Two different forms of EPS are reported: the classical one observed in patients on PD, and post-transplantation EPS (PostTx-EPS). The first-line therapy of classical and PostTx-EPS remains surgical treatment, but for both the complication rate and mortality are high.

Mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy treated with peritoneal dialysis and bone marrow transplantation.

Mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE) is a rare disease caused by thymidine phosphorylase deficiency which leads to toxic accumulations of thymidine (dThd) and deoxyuridine (dUrd). It lacks an established treatment and the prognosis is traditionally poor. We report a case of a young female patient with normal renal function and MNGIE treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD) and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT).

[Immunosuppressive treatment after kidney transplant: the frontier of chronic antibody-mediated rejection].

The recognition of antibody-mediated rejection as an important factor in the reduction of long-term renal graft survival represents a new challenge to the immunosuppressive strategies of recent years, which have been quite successful in reducing the acute rejection rates as well as the side effects of pharmacological immunosuppression. The search for an effective treatment of chronic anti-donor antibody disease has been pursued mostly through limited single-center experiences and therefore in a dispersed fashion, without leading to the definition of a consolidated approach. The most frequently used pharmacological approaches stem from the experience of antibody-mediated acute rejection.