Risk factors for renal allograft survival with China novel donation category: Donation after brain death followed by cardiac arrest.

INTRODUCTION: To meet the need for transplantable organs, a new donation program was initiated by the Chinese government. This novel policy created three categories for deceased organ donations: donation after circulatory death cardiac death (DCD), donation after brain death (DBD), and donation after brain death followed by circulatory death (DBCD) meaning complete cardiac arrest. In fact, the DBCD method is a combination of both DBD and DCD methods. A DBCD donor meets the criteria of for brain death, but the organ procurement begins after the withdrawal of life support and the subsequent cardiac arrest death. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of kidney transplantation in our center with the DBCD policy. Potential risk factors for affecting the renal allograft survival were also analyzed based on our data. METHOD: A retrospective study, involving 421 kidney transplants derived from 214 donors, was conducted between December 2011 and October 2019. In particular, 373 (88.6%) transplanted organs met the criteria for DBCD, and 48 (11.4%) for DCD. The log-rank test was used to compare the difference in survival. The Cox regression analysis was used for risk factor screening. RESULT: Analysis showed that the DBCD group was better than the DCD group in terms of overall (p = 0.031) as well as death-censored (p = 0.026) allograft survival using the log-rank test. A Cox regression analysis revealed that increasing donor age (p = 0.002, HR = 1.820/10 years incremental older), increasing recipient age (p = 0.028, HR = 1.521/10 years increment older), prolonged dialysis duration (p = 0.007, HR = 1.018), occurrence episodes of acute rejection (p = 0.016, HR = 2.697), delayed graft function (p = 0.012, HR = 2.962), mismatch ≥4 HLA loci (p = 0.038, HR = 3.606), and warm ischemia time > 15 min (p = 0.022, HR = 2.915), were all independent risk factors affecting the graft survival. CONCLUSION: The new DBCD policy of donation produced acceptable results similar or even better than the DCD practice. Based on our analysis, the graft survival of DBCD transplants may be better than DCD transplants. The main risk factors for allograft loss included an increasing donor age, recipient age, warm ischemia time > 15 min, prolonged dialysis duration, acute rejection, delayed graft function, and HLA mismatch ≥4 HLA loci.

Chinese herbal medicine Xinji pill protects the heart from ischemia/reperfusion injury through the Akt/Nrf2 pathway.

The cardioprotective drugs used for treatment against ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury have been well evaluated and are considered inadequate. The Chinese herbal medicine formula, Xinji pill (XJP) has been used traditionally for the prevention and treatment of ischemic heart diseases for decades. In the present study, the cardioprotective effects of XJP against MI/R injury were assessed in vivo and its possible mechanism was examined. Male Sprague­Dawley rats were selected for establishing an MI/R model, which was induced by ischemia for 30 min followed by 24 h reperfusion. Drugs and saline were administered intragastrically from day 14 prior to MI/R. Blood samples were collected for biochemical detection. The rats were then sacrificed and cardiac muscle tissues were harvested. The mRNA expression levels of antioxidant genes were measured by reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction and the protein levels were measured by western blotting. Pretreatment with XJP for 14 days protected the heart against I/R­induced myocardial function disorder, protected against heart injury, as demonstrated by normalized serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase, and suppressed oxidative stress. XJP markedly upregulated the expression of antioxidant genes, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase, and promoted the protein expression of heme oxygenase­1 and NFE2­related factor 2 (Nrf2) in the heart tissues. Furthermore, Akt kinase was confirmed to be upstream of Nrf2 in the XJP treatment. LY294002, a specific inhibitor of Akt, significantly eliminated the cardioprotective effects of XJP. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that XJP exhibited notable cardioprotective properties, in which the Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway may be involved.