Protocol opens up more kidney transplants

LOS ANGELES, July 16 (UPI) -- A new therapy improves transplant rates and outcomes for patients waiting for kidney transplants, said Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The therapy may provide an option for patients who are "sensitized" to transplant antigens who previously wouldn't have been eligible for transplants because of their immune response to the human leukocyte antigens, the hospital said Wednesday in a news release.

HLA exposure leads to the body's immune system to become sensitized and develop antibodies. If a donor organ with the antigens is transplanted, the antibodies respond and increase the risk of rejection, researchers said. Antibodies to HLA were previously considered an absolute bar to a transplant because of rejection risks.

Cedars-Sinai developed a new protocol, now in trial, combining intravenous gamma globulin and rituximab, a monoclonal antibody, that helps to desensitize highly sensitive patients, said Dr. Stanley Jordan, director of the Division of Nephrology and medical director of the Renal Transplant Program at Cedars-Sinai.

"Patients who are on dialysis and those who are progressing toward renal failure should be considered for a kidney transplant," Jordan said. "However, for the highly sensitized patient, transplantation is not an option unless desensitization therapies are used."

An article about the Phase I/II safety and limited efficacy trial is in latest The New England Journal of Medicine.