by Victoria Lorenzetti  , Elena Bargagli  , Antonella Fossi  , David Bennett  , Paolo Cameli  and Paola Rottoli

Received: 30 August 2018;  Published: 18 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804033

BACKGROUND: α1-antitrypsin deficiency is the most common hereditary disorder in adults and is associated to an increased risk of developing lung emphysema. METHODS: With this case report, we describe the case of a 54 years old patient, who underwent bilateral lung transplantation due to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency emphysema. RESULTS: The patient was diagnosed with partial alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (189 mg/dl) associated to PIMZ genotype; although he quitted smoking, lung disease progressively deteriorates [...]

by Zaid Albayati  , Sally Heyworth  , Jane Moberly  , Derek Middleton  , Brian Flanagan  , Abdul Hammad  and Stephen E Christmas

Received: 10 October 2018;  Published: 14 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804032

Background HLA-G is an immunosuppressive molecule with a potential role in allograft acceptance. Methods Expression of HLA-G on leucocyte subpopulations was studied in a group of 21 renal transplant patients immediately prior to and 2 month post-transplantation. Results Significant increases in proportions of total HLA-G+CD4+ T cells were seen (0.5+/-0.1% to 7.9+/-3.2%; p

by Yi-nan Guo  , Michael Grzelak  and Byoung Chol Oh

Received: 10 October 2018;  Published: 13 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804031

One of the major hurdles still facing the field of transplantation is the management of immunosuppression and the morbidity that results from treatment. Due to toxicity and complications from a maintenance immunosuppression therapies, a necessary improvement in post-transplant immunosuppressive therapies must be the development of a low-side effect therapy. Cell-based therapies as an emerging candidate offer a novel approach to generating graft tolerance, and when utilized within a combination therapeutic strategy, [...]

by Silvia Martini  , Ezio David  , Francesco Tandoi  , Dominic Dell Olio  , Antonio Amoroso  , Mauro Salizzoni  , Giorgio Maria Saracco  and Renato Romagnoli

Received: 27 September 2018;  Published: 04 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804030

We report a burdensome case of transplantation of a HCV-viremic liver graft into a HCV-viremic recipient with minor AB0 mismatch.

by Michael Y. Shino  , Ariss Derhovanessian  , David M. Sayah  , Rajan Saggar  , Ying Ying Xue  , Abbas Ardehali  , Barry R. Stripp  , David J. Ross  , Joseph P. Lynch  , Robert M. Elashoff  , S. Samuel Weigt  and John A. Belperio

Received: 11 September 2018;  Published: 30 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804029

The long term clinical significance of respiratory infections after lung transplantation remains uncertain. In this retrospective single-center cohort study of 441 lung transplant recipients, we formally evaluate the association between respiratory infection and chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). We furthermore hypothesized that bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) CXCL9 concentrations are augmented during respiratory infections, and that episodes of infection with elevated BALF CXCL9 are associated with gre [...]

by Laura A. Huppert  , Marie Sinclair  and Jennifer C. Lai

Received: 08 November 2018;  Published: 28 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804028

BACKGROUND: Patients with cirrhosis suffer not only from commonly-diagnosed portal hypertensive complications such as ascites and hepatic encephalopathy but also from more insidious effects of chronic liver failure including muscle wasting, under-nutrition, and functional decline. These manifestations of physical frailty have been demonstrated to predict mortality in patients with cirrhosis independently of liver disease severity, but objective biomarkers associated with physical frailty in cirrhosis are needed. Th [...]

by Yujie Wen  , Anita Y. Chhabra  , Joseph R. Leventhal  and Suzanne T. Ildstad

Received: 29 October 2018;  Published: 20 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804027

In this review, we summarized the latest results from the interventional clinical trials on inducing clinical tolerance in the recipients of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched or mismatched living donor kidney transplantation via establishment of either transient or durable donor chimerism by hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-based cell therapies. The protocols utilized by the three medical centers in the United States are different in the donor cells composition of hematopoietic stem cells transplantation (HSCT) an [...]

by Maria Irene Bellini  , Joseph Ayathamattam  and Paul Elliot Herbert

Received: 19 October 2018;  Published: 19 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804026

Obesity is on the rise and the number of end stage renal disease patients who are obese parallel this trend. There is no universally accepted guideline for wait-listing end stage renal disease obese patients in order to reduce short-term complications and improve long-term survival of the kidney graft. Criteria for acceptance are variable among transplant centres, as do post-transplant policies. Careful risk assessment to maximise the benefits of the limited organ donor resource must be undertaken prior to wait-lis [...]

by Sylvaine YOU  and Lucienne Chatenoud

Received: 25 September 2018;  Published: 09 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804025

Transplant tolerance has been achieved in experimental models using immune intervention strategies. Yet, their clinical translation remains unsuccessful and requires further optimization of immunotherapeutic regimens based on a deeper understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms at play in the induction and maintenance phases of immune tolerance. Intensive investigations have shed the light on the tolerogenic networks underlying graft survival and have unraveled their complexity, which may depend on sever [...]

by Robert C. McCarthy  , Michael L. Green  and Francis E. Dwulet

Received: 24 September 2018;  Published: 07 November 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1804024

Islet transplantation is becoming an established treatment option for managing a subset of adult patients who have type 1 diabetes mellitus. The success of this procedure is dependent upon the recovery of a sufficient number of functional human islets from donor organs for subsequent transplant. Here, the use of optimized bacterial collagenase-neutral enzyme mixtures has been shown to affect the yield and quality (defined by viability and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion) of islets recovered from human pancreat [...]