Announcing the best of AJT 2016
Guest Editor: Bruce Kaplan
Transplantation remains a vibrant and innovative field for scientific inquiry. The editors of the American Journal of Transplantation are grateful to have received some of the most thoughtful, innovative and important manuscripts in the field over the past year. Though we have chosen a top ten list, this could easily have been expanded to dozens of other manuscripts. Whether on this list or not, the editors consider each and every manuscript AJT published in 2016 important, and we are appreciative of all contributors to AJT.
Loupy et al show that antibody-mediated rejection, even if subclinical, may play a role in cardiac vasculopathy. This study furthers our understanding of the most common lesion associated with heart transplant failure. In an extension of their work on the proposed redistricting of liver allocation, Gentry et al acknowledge that the implications on liver transplant cost need to be carefully considered. Brennan et al provide a 12-year follow-up of the Edmonton Protocol in Islet Transplants. This study reveals only a modest number of patients free of insulin at 12 years, but is reassuring in terms of long-term toxicity of this regimen. Espinosa et al interrogate the issue of resistance to the immunosuppressive effects of belatacept and find a subset of CD4 cells bearing CD57 may serve as a biomarker for patients at higher risk of acute rejection under belatacept therapy. Shabir et al add important information on a potential mechanism by which CMV may lead to endothelial damage and further elucidate the association of CMV and poor allograft outcomes. In their report on the efficacy and safety of sofosbuvir for hepatitis C after renal transplant, Kamar et al’s article illustrates the revolution newer therapies have had on improving the lives of patients infected with hepatitis C. Ravikumar et al describe a Phase 1 study of normothermic perfusion in liver transplant patients with highly encouraging results that will lead to further investigation into a technique that will allow greater utilization of livers. Modena et al provide evidence that the transcriptome may be able to identify an inflammatory state that may not be histologically apparent, but nonetheless leads to allograft damage. Nayak et al provide evidence that donor macrophages can remain for years in lung transplant recipients and may play a role in long-term immunologic damage in this most difficult group of transplant recipients. In an elegant and provocative study, Miller et al demonstrate that tracer CD4 cells also influence endogenous immune responses and thus serve as a cautionary note regarding passive cell therapies.
Late Failing Heart Allografts: Pathology of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy and Association With Antibody-Mediated Rejection
Loupy et al.
January 2016
The Impact of Redistricting Proposals on Health Care Expenditures for Liver Transplant Candidates and Recipients
Gentry et al.
February 2016
Long-Term Follow-Up of the Edmonton Protocol of Islet Transplantation in the United States
Brennan et al.
February 2016
CD57+ CD4 T Cells Underlie Belatacept-Resistant Allograft Rejection
Espinosa et al.
April 2016
Cytomegalovirus-Associated CD4+CD28null Cells in NKG2D-Dependent Glomerular Endothelial Injury and Kidney Allograft Dysfunction
Shabir et al.
April 2016
Efficacy and Safety of Sofosbuvir-Based Antiviral Therapy to Treat Hepatitis C Virus Infection After Kidney Transplantation
Kamar et al.
May 2016
Liver Transplantation After Ex Vivo Normothermic Machine Preservation: A Phase 1 (First-in-Man) Clinical Trial
Ravikumar et al.
June 2016
Gene Expression in Biopsies of Acute Rejection and Interstitial Fibrosis/Tubular Atrophy Reveals Highly Shared Mechanisms That Correlate With Worse Long-Term Outcomes
Modena et al.
July 2016
Long-Term Persistence of Donor Alveolar Macrophages in Human Lung Transplant Recipients That Influences Donor-Specific Immune Responses
Nayak et al.
August 2016
Adoptive Transfer of Tracer-Alloreactive CD4+ T Cell Receptor Transgenic T Cells Alters the Endogenous Immune Response to an Allograft
Miller et al.
October 2016