Effect of initial immunosuppression on long-term kidney transplant outcome in immunological low-risk patients

Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2019 Aug 1;34(8):1417-1422. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfy377.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have evaluated the effect of different immunosuppressive strategies on long-term kidney transplant outcomes. Moreover, as they were usually based on historical data, it was not possible to account for the presence of pretransplant donor-specific human-leukocyte antigen antibodies (DSA), a currently recognized risk marker for impaired graft survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate to what extent frequently used initial immunosuppressive therapies increase graft survival in immunological low-risk patients.

Methods: We performed an analysis on the PROCARE cohort, a Dutch multicentre study including all transplantations performed in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2005 with available pretransplant serum (n = 4724). All sera were assessed for the presence of DSA by a luminex single-antigen bead assay. Patients with a previous kidney transplantation, pretransplant DSA or receiving induction therapy were excluded from the analysis.

Results: Three regimes were used in over 200 patients: cyclosporine (CsA)/prednisolone (Pred) (n = 542), CsA/mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)/Pred (n = 857) and tacrolimus (TAC)/MMF/Pred (n = 811). Covariate-adjusted analysis revealed no significant differences in 10-year death-censored graft survival between patients on TAC/MMF/Pred therapy (79%) compared with patients on CsA/MMF/Pred (82%, P = 0.88) or CsA/Pred (79%, P = 0.21). However, 1-year rejection-free survival censored for death and failure unrelated to rejection was significantly higher for TAC/MMF/Pred (81%) when compared with CsA/MMF/Pred (67%, P < 0.0001) and CsA/Pred (64%, P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: These results suggest that in immunological low-risk patients excellent long-term kidney graft survival can be achieved irrespective of the type of initial immunosuppressive therapy (CsA or TAC; with or without MMF), despite differences in 1-year rejection-free survival.

Keywords: anti-HLA antibodies; graft survival; immunological low-risk; immunosuppression; kidney transplantation.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cohort Studies
  • Cyclosporine / therapeutic use*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Graft Rejection*
  • Graft Survival / immunology
  • HLA Antigens / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppression Therapy / adverse effects
  • Immunosuppression Therapy / methods*
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Kidney / immunology
  • Kidney Transplantation*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mycophenolic Acid / therapeutic use*
  • Netherlands / epidemiology
  • Prednisolone
  • Tacrolimus / therapeutic use*

Substances

  • HLA Antigens
  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Cyclosporine
  • Prednisolone
  • Mycophenolic Acid
  • Tacrolimus