Efficacy and safety of thymoglobulin induction as an alternative approach for steroid-free maintenance immunosuppression in pediatric renal transplantation.

Background: Given the recent withdrawal of daclizumab (DAC), the safety and efficacy of thymoglobulin (TMG) was tested as an alternative induction agent for steroid-free (SF) immunosuppression in pediatric kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: Thirteen pediatric renal transplant recipients meeting defined high-risk criteria at transplantation were offered TMG induction and SF immunosuppression with maintenance mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus between October 2008 and January 2010. Patients were closely monitored at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months posttransplant for protocol biopsy and clinical outcomes.

Long-term type VII collagen restoration to human epidermolysis bullosa skin tissue.

In spite of advances in the molecular diagnosis of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), an inherited blistering disease due to a deficiency of type VII collagen at the basement membrane zone (BMZ) of stratified epithelium, current therapy is limited to supportive palliation. Gene delivery has shown promise in short-term experiments; however, its long-term sustainability through multiple turnover cycles in human tissue has awaited confirmation. To characterize approaches for long-term genetic correction, retroviral vectors were constructed containing long terminal repeat-driven full-length and epitope-tagged COL7A1 cDNA and evaluated for durability of type VII collagen expression and function in RDEB skin tissue regenerated on immune-deficient mice.