SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Liver Transplant: How Are We Now?

Background: The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerged as a new variant of concern, characterized by high transmissibility and lower severity compared with previous variants, and became the majority variant in the sixth wave in Spain. This study aims to assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on liver transplant recipients (LTRs) during 2023 in the population of Cantabria.

Methods: The study included 295 LTRs undergoing follow-up at the Liver Transplant Unit of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital.

Evaluation of ATP bioluminescence for rapid determination of farrowing room cleanliness after pressure washing at a commercial sow farm.

Rotavirus and other pathogenic microorganisms are known to cause scours, respiratory infection, and increased mortality, spread from pig to pig via contaminated equipment, insuffcient washing, and improper disinfection processes in farrowing rooms on commercial sow farms. Pig producers have adopted cleaning procedures and biosecurity policies as an attempt to ensure farrowing rooms are free of infectious organisms before the next group of sows is introduced. Adenosine triphosphate () bioluminescence has been used in other industries to provide real-time feedback on surface cleanliness through the detection of ATP from organic sources.

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Are Increased in Lung Transplant Recipients and Regulated by Immunosuppressive Therapy.

Lung transplantation remains as a primary treatment for end-stage lung diseases. Although remarkable improvement has been achieved due to the immunosuppressive protocols, long-term survival for lung transplant recipients (LTR) is still limited. In the last few decades, an increasing interest has grown in the study of dysregulation of immune mechanisms underlying allograft failure.

Acute Rejection Following Kidney Transplantation: State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives.

Although acute renal graft rejection rate has declined in the last years, and because an adequate therapy can improve graft outcome, its therapy remains as one of the most significant challenges for pharmacists and physicians taking care of transplant patients. Due to the lack of evidence highlighted by the available metaanalyses, we performed a narrative review focused on the basic mechanisms and current and future therapies of acute rejection in kidney transplantation. According to Kidney Disease/Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines, both clinical and subclinical acute rejection episodes should be treated.

Author Correction: Human neutrophils phagocytose and kill Acinetobacter baumannii and A. pittii.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Number of Antibody-verified Eplet in HLA-C Locus as an Independent Factor of T-cell-Mediated Rejection After Liver Transplantation.

Background: HLA mismatching is a risk factor for graft rejection in solid organ transplantation. Its definition is being rethought with the introduction of the eplets in organ allocation. The eplets are highly polymorphic regions of the HLA molecule that help to explain cross-reactivity of HLA antigens.

Late Plasma Cell Depletion After Thymoglobulin Induction in Kidney Transplant Recipients.

Objectives: Induction therapy with rabbit antithymocyte globulin is frequently used in kidney transplant recipients and contributes to regulating the humoral alloantibody response. However, the effect of rabbit antithymocyte globulin on B-cell subpopulations, including plasma cells, has not been previously studied in humans in vivo.

Materials And Methods: We prospectively studied a cohort of 39 adult kidney transplant recipients.

NFκB activation in differentiating glioblastoma stem-like cells is promoted by hyaluronic acid signaling through TLR4.

We have previously described that the NFκB pathway is upregulated during differentiation of glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) which keeps differentiating GSCs in a proliferative astrocytic precursor state. However, extracellular signals and cellular mediators of this pathway are not clear yet. Here, we show that TLR4 is a key factor to promote NFκB activation in differentiating GSCs.

Human neutrophils phagocytose and kill Acinetobacter baumannii and A. pittii.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a common cause of health care associated infections worldwide. A. pittii is an opportunistic pathogen also frequently isolated from Acinetobacter infections other than those from A.

Within-Patient Variability in Tacrolimus Blood Levels Predicts Kidney Graft Loss and Donor-Specific Antibody Development.

Background: Lack of adherence to immunosuppressive drugs is a risk factor for development of de novo donor-specific antibodies (dnDSA) and can contribute to antibody-mediated rejection and graft loss. Moreover, nonadherence is the main determinant of immunosuppressive drug level variability. High intrapatient variability of tacrolimus relates to a worse outcome in transplant recipients through unknown mechanisms.

Predictive factors of allosensitization in renal transplant patients switched from calcineurin to mTOR inhibitors.

Conversion of kidney-transplant recipients from calcineurin inhibitors to mTOR inhibitors has been suggested to be a risk factor for increased alloimmune response. We have analyzed the development of new HLA-antibodies (HLA-Abs) early after conversion in 184 patients converted in stable phase at our hospital and compared with a control group of nonconverted comparable 63 transplants. Using single-antigen solid-phase immunoassay analysis, a preconversion and a 3-6 months postconversion sera were prospectively analyzed in every patient for the appearance of new HLA-Abs.

Dabigatran versus warfarin after bioprosthesis valve replacement for the management of atrial fibrillation postoperatively: protocol.

Background: Warfarin and similar vitamin K antagonists have been the standard therapy for patients with mechanical or biological valve prosthesis and atrial fibrillation (AF). Even with the appropriate use of therapy, some studies have reported that there is a high incidence of thromboembolic events, 1%-4% per year. Furthermore, a bleeding risk is significant, ranging from 2% to 9% per year, according to some studies.

Cellular immunotolerance in the transplant.

In humans, a state of operational tolerance has been observed in some recipients who anecdotally or experimentally abandoned their immunosuppressive treatment. Besides, advances in the understanding of the immune response and the continuous appearance of new biological molecules have boosted the growing interest in transferring the knowledge concerning immune tolerance from experimental models to clinical transplantation. Most of the strategies for inducing tolerance target the T-lymphocytes, especially T CD4(+) since they play a central role in the regulation of the immune response.

Changes in the number of circulating T and T subsets in renal transplantation: relationship with acute rejection and induction therapy.

Effector (T) and central memory (T) T cells have been recently described as the main memory T-cell subsets generated after primary immune response, with a potential role in graft rejection after rechallenge with alloantigen. Because of their effector function, they could be involved in driving the response against the allograft, leading to rejection. In this study, we sought to investigate the different memory T-cell subpopulations in peripheral blood from a cohort of 90 patients who underwent consecutive renal transplant, and their association with acute rejection (AR) episodes and induction therapy.

Kidney transplant recipients show an increase in the ratio of T-cell effector memory/central memory as compared to nontransplant recipients on the waiting list.

Studies of allotolerance in animal models do not usually consider the presence of preexisting memory T cells and activated immune status. However, humans are exposed throughout life to a multitude of external agents that enhance the immune memory. In this article, we consider the effect that a previous kidney transplant has on the number of regulatory T cells (Tregs), effector memory T cells (TEM), and central memory T cells (TCM).

The impact of Th17 cells on transplant rejection and the induction of tolerance.

Purpose Of Review: This review aims to provide an overview of the latest evidence for the involvement of Th17 cells in the rejection of solid organ allografts. It will also consider the implications of the relationship between the differentiation pathways of Th17 and regulatory T cells (Tregs), as well as their plasticity in the context of transplantation tolerance.

Recent Findings: In the absence of the Th1 lineage in vivo, Th17 cells are capable of rejecting cardiac allografts, showing the capacity of Th17 cells to cause allograft rejection, at least in experimental models.

Immune phenotype predicts risk for posttransplantation squamous cell carcinoma.

Cutaneous squamous cell cancer (SCC) affects up to 30% of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) within 10 years of transplantation. There are no reliable clinical tests that predict those who will develop multiple skin cancers. High numbers of regulatory T cells associate with poor prognosis for patients with cancer in the general population, suggesting their potential as a predictive marker of cutaneous SCC in KTRs.

Regulatory T cells in renal transplantation and modulation by immunosuppression.

The poor long-term graft survival rate counteracts the important advance that transplantation is for end-stage renal disease patients. This is mainly due to the employment of immunosuppression that inhibits nonspecifically the alloimmune response to avoid graft rejection, but, at the same time, brings a number of adverse effects leading to chronic rejection. Thus, the major goal in transplantation is to reach an absence of immune response towards donor alloantigens without the need of long-term immunosuppressant drugs.

Calcineurin inhibitors, but not rapamycin, reduce percentages of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells in renal transplant recipients.

Background: Immunosuppression in renal transplantation, although manageable in the short-term, is a major hurdle for long-term graft survival. Recently, increased frequencies of CD4CD25 regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been described as an additional mechanism that induces alloimmune tolerance.

Methods: We assessed 64 renal transplant recipients with stable renal function for at least one year.

Clinical significance of antiphospholipid antibodies on allograft and patient outcome after kidney transplantation.

Introduction: Antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) have acquired great relevance as atherogenic factors. Kidney graft recipients have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than the general population, which is not fully explained by the classical vascular risk factors. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of APA on kidney graft and patient outcomes with special focus on CVD.