Humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in kidney transplant recipients and dialysis patients: IgA and IgG patterns unraveled after SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination.

BACKGROUND: Infection with SARS-CoV-2 in high-risk groups such as kidney transplant and dialysis patients is shown to be associated with a more serious course of the disease. Four years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, crucial knowledge on the immune responses in these patient groups is still lacking. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the humoral immune response after a SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to vaccination as well as the evolution of immunoglobulins over time. METHODS: Kidney transplant recipients, patients on haemodialysis or on peritoneal dialysis and healthy controls were included in this longitudinal multicenter study. SARS-CoV-2 anti-RBD, anti-NP and anti-S1S2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) and A (IgA) as well as the neutralizing antibody capacity were measured. RESULTS: Kidney transplant recipients had a significantly better humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 after infection (86.4%) than after a two-dose mRNA vaccination (55.8%) while seroconversion was comparable in patients on haemodialysis after infection (95.8%) versus vaccination (89.4%). In individuals without prior COVID-19, the IgG levels after vaccination were significantly lower in kidney transplant recipients when compared to all other groups. However, the IgA titres remained the highest in this patient group at each time point, both after infection and vaccination. A history COVID-19 was associated with higher antibody levels after double-dose vaccination in all patient categories and, while decreasing, titres remained high six months after double-dose vaccination. CONCLUSION: Kidney transplant recipients had a more robust humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 following infection compared to a two-dose mRNA vaccination, while patients on haemodialysis exhibited comparable seroconversion rates. Notably, individuals with prior COVID-19 exhibited higher IgG levels in response to vaccination. Hybrid immunity is thus the best possible defence against severe COVID-19 disease and seems also to hold up for these populations. Next, it is not clear whether the higher IgA levels in the kidney transplant recipients is beneficial for neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 or if it is a sign of disease severity.

Psychological Symptoms and Quality of Life After Simultaneous Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation.

Patients that have undergone successful simultaneous pancreas/kidney (SPK) transplantation attain normoglycemia and are free from dialysis. However, only a minor improvement in quality of life (QOL) has been demonstrated. Here, we evaluated the role of psychological symptoms in QOL after SPK transplantation. METHODS: We assessed patients with type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease waitlisted for SPK transplantation (pre-SPK, n = 47), and recipients of an SPK transplant (post-SPK, n = 72). Matched patients with type 1 diabetes without end-stage renal disease were included as reference group (type 1 diabetes [T1D] reference group, n = 42). The brief symptom inventory (BSI) was used to measure psychological symptoms. The Short Form-36 (SF-36) was used to determine QOL. RESULTS: Post-SPK patients scored slightly better on the SF-36 than pre-SPK patients ("General health" 47.2 ± 23.1 versus 37.5 ± 18.1 [P = 0.017]). In the T1D reference group, this score was 60.6 ± 22.3. Post- and pre-SPK patients had similar BSI scores (0.54 ± 0.55 and 0.45 ± 0.42, respectively [P = 0.34]). This score was better in the T1D reference group (BSI score 0.32 ± 0.33). The BSI score inversely correlated with the SF-36 (r = -0.61, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Psychological symptoms are prevalent in both pre-SPK and post-SPK patients and could play an important role in the reduced QOL observed in these groups.

Preemptive versus Non-preemptive simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation: a single-center, long-term, follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Data regarding the timing-before or after initiation of dialysis-of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients with end-stage renal failure are sparse. We studied the effect of preemptive transplantation on patient survival, cardiovascular endpoints, and graft survival, as compared with non-preemptive transplantation. METHODS: All 180 SPKT recipients (aged 23-58 years) who received a SPKT in Leiden between December 1986 and May 2004 were included in the analysis. Sixty-five patients (36.1%) were transplanted preemptively. Mean follow-up time was 6.3 years. RESULTS: Up to 8.2 years after transplantation, we found no differences in patient survival. Later on, divergence occurred: 10-year patient survival was 71.3% in the preemptive group versus 63.8% in the dialysis group and 15-year patient survival was 64.8% versus 45.1% in the dialysis group, leading to an adjusted hazard ratio for mortality of 0.50 (95% CI 0.23-1.06, P=0.070). Cause of death was less often of cardiac origin in the preemptive group (adjusted HR 0.16; 95% CI 0.026-0.95, P=0.044). Graft survival did not follow the same trend. No significant differences were found between the two groups considering allograft survival, cerebrovascular accident, or myocardial infarction. The percentage of patients with minor or major amputation(s) after transplantation was slightly lower in the preemptive group (24.6 vs. 32.1%; adjusted HR 0.87; 95% CI 0.42-1.82, P=0.72). CONCLUSION: Preemptive SPKT offered a patient survival benefit as compared with transplantation performed while already on dialysis and was associated with a lower rate of cardiac deaths.