Blockade of the chemokine receptor CCR1 leads to a significant reduction of glomerulosclerosis and allograft fibrosis in rat renal allografts associated with a decrease of leukocyte infiltration of the graft and a direct inhibition of matrix synthesis.

In this rat heart transplant model, splenocytes and spleen T cells from treated recipients transferred long-term graft survival but blood T cells did not. Spleen T cells nevertheless are not able to prevent chronic rejection.

Although high BMI on the wait list is a risk factor for kidney transplant recipients, this retrospective analysis of USRDS data found no evidence that weight loss before transplantation is associated with improved transplant outcomes. See also editorial by Schnitzler et al in this issue on page 493.

In this multicenter study, reduced cyclosporine exposure (but not CsA withdrawal) in combination with mycophenolate mofetil, daclizumab and corticosteroids was a safe and effective regimen. However, renal function was not improved compared to the control group of standard cyclosporine at 12 months. See also editorial by Kaplan and Budde in this issue on page 495.

Using RIFLE criteria to define severity of acute renal failure, this study found that kidneys from controlled Non-Heart Beating donors with low severity pre-arrest acute renal failure can be transplanted.

Ten of 83 patients receiving an HLA-incompatible renal allograft following desensitization had a protocol biopsy showing histologic and immunohistologic changes of acute antibody-mediated rejection (AMR); follow-up biopsies of these grafts taken a mean of ∼1 year later showed significantly more chronic change, including glomerulopathy, than biopsies of 24 HLA-incompatible grafts with no history of AMR over a similar interval.

Retrospective analysis of SRTR recipients receiving sirolimus plus mycophenolate revealed that, compared with other commonly used regimens, this combination was associated with higher rejection rates and lower graft survival, as well as increased delayed graft function in deceased donor transplants.

Six hundred and thirty-eight (638) de novo kidney patients participated in this phase III randomized open-label trial. In patients also given corticosteroids and basiliximab, extended release tacrolimus plus MMF was similar in safety and efficacy to conventional tacrolimus/MMF and to cyclosporine/MMF.

In 256 recipients with renal allografts from cardiac death donors between 1975 and 2004 at a single center, delayed graft function was frequent (72%), but graft survival rates have continually improved, confirming the utility of this source of kidney transplants.

In renal transplant patients, microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria are risk factors for graft loss, even after adjusting for renal function and diabetes, and also predict increased risk of patient death.

This prospective study evaluated virtual crossmatching for pre-transplant risk assessment in renal allograft recipients and correlated these results with clinical and histopathological outcomes as well as retrospectively obtained flow-cytometric crossmatches. The results indicate that the virtual crossmatch accurately detects donor-specific antibody.

This randomized study of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine PCV7 compared to the current standard pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine PPV23 found that the PCV7 did not enhance the durability of the response.

This study comparing two immunosuppressive protocols in patients receiving dual kidney transplants from extended criteria donors found that a protocol with rATG and sirolimus offered no advantages over a cyclosporine-based protocol.

This study of the relationship between recipient BMI and renal hemodynamics one year post-transplant found that higher recipient BMI is associated with higher GFR and filtration fraction.

The risk of hospitalization for virus infection post-transplant is increased in young recipients with CMV positive kidneys, whereas hospitalization for bacterial infection was associated with delayed graft function, previous chronic pyelonephritis, pre-transplant diabetes, and female gender.

Antibody induction therapy, especially in younger children, increased the risk for hospitalization for viral or bacterial infection, without improvements in patient or graft survival.

Prostacyclin analogue iloprost rapidly relieved symptoms in patients with post transplant distal limb syndrome (PTDLS) giving new insights into the potential cause of this syndrome and suggesting new therapeutic option in severely affected patients.

3D CT volumetry based on the “largest” (venous) CT phase is associated with considerable overestimation of the pre-operative liver volume, whereas volumetry based on the “smallest” (native) CT phase accurately matches the intraoperative findings.

TIn six patients receiving liver transplants from deceased donors serologically positive for Chagas disease, none developed evidence of Chagas disease when prophylactic treatment with benznidazole was used.

The failure to accurately estimate the male-female difference in GFRs in calculating the MELD scores may operate as a bias against females in liver transplant allocation.

Patients who received lung transplants and had the TT genotype for the CD14-159 polymorphism displayed more rejection and BOS and worse graft survival.

Pre-operative serum VEGF concentrations were significantly higher in patients whose lung transplants subsequently manifested primary graft dysfunction.