The impact of different induction immunosuppression protocols on patient survival, graft survival and acute graft rejection after kidney transplantation.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to stratify the immunological risk based on the presence of risk factors using different induction immunosuppressive protocols. BACKGROUND: The path to successful kidney transplantation reflects the accuracy of immunological risk assessment and choice of correct induction and maintenance of immunosuppression to avoid acute kidney rejection. METHODS: We performed a multicentre prospective analysis consisting of patients after kidney transplantation with a 12-month follow-up. RESULTS: In total, 152 kidney transplant recipients were included, of whom 100 were males (66.4 %). We divided patients according to the induction immunosuppression as follows: no induction (n = 19), induction with basiliximab (n = 60), and induction with ATG at cumulative doses of 3.5 mg/kg (n = 42) and 6 mg/kg (n = 31). In our study, we demonstrated a shorter survival of patients without induction immunosuppression. In the basiliximab group, the duration of dialysis ≥ 3 years (p = 0.0191), cold ischaemia time ≥ 1,020 minutes or expected delayed graft function (p < 0.0001) are independent risk factors for graft loss (p = 0.0097). CONCLUSIONS: Risk of no induction immunosuppression significantly exceeds the risks associated with its administration and is desirable even in patients at low immunological risk. Induction immunosuppression should be tailored individually and thus differ from patient to patient (Tab. 6, Fig. 1, Ref. 15).

Early recurrence of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis as an unusual cause of primary kidney transplant malfunction.

Recurrence of the primary disease is one of the most common causes of graft failure in the first decade after kidney transplantation. We present a case of a patient with an unusually rapid recurrence of focal segmental glomerulonephritis in the graft, the recognition of its occurrence was hampered by the primary graft affection and oligoanuria and by insignificant histological changes in the first two biopsy samples in the early post-transplant period, as well as by unawareness of the disease leading to terminal renal failure, as no renal biopsy was performed due to grade 3 obesity. Only worsening of hypoalbuminemia and finding of massive proteinuria despite oligoanuria were crucial for further management. Disease recurrence in the graft was confirmed by electron microscopy. However, complex targeted therapy did not result in restoration of graft function and decrease in proteinuria. This case history was aimed to draw attention to the knowledge of the importance of the primary disease confirmed by renal biopsy and early (so called pre-emptive) treatment in case of diseases with a high potential of recurrence (Fig. 7, Ref. 10). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: kidney transplantation, recurrence, minimal changes in glomeruli, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Sequence similarities and evolutionary relationships of influenza virus A hemagglutinins.

This study brings the analysis of amino acid sequences of hemagglutinin (HA) from the influenza virus A that can infect a wide variety of birds and mammals. 191 sequences belonging to all known 15 HA subtypes were compared. The emphasis was given on functional sites (receptor-binding cavity with its right and left edges) and degree of their conservation in each subtype. Three evolutionary trees of 15 avian HA representatives were constructed: one tree based on the alignment of the entire HA sequences and two trees based on the alignment of HA1 and HA2 chains, respectively. The results have shown that, despite low degree of sequence similarity among the 191 sequences of HA1 subunit, the active site is well conserved, and that there are only marginal differences in the clustering of the individual HA subtypes between the two subunit trees. In this respect, the subtype H9 seems to be the most fluctuating example. The proposals of the probable avian HAs that could be the closest relatives to human (mammalian) HAs were also provided for several HA subtypes.