Prevalence and Impact of Reformed and De Novo Anti-HLA Donor-Specific Antibodies in Liver Transplantation

Incidence of acute rejection and patient survival in combined heart-liver transplantation

Combined heart-liver transplantation (CHLT) is indicated for patients with concomitant end-stage heart and liver disease or patients with amyloid heart disease where liver transplantation mitigates progression. Limited data suggest that the liver allograft provides immunoprotection for heart and kidney allografts in combined transplantation from the same donor. We hypothesized that CHLT reduces the incidence of acute cellular rejection (ACR) and the development of de novo donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) compared with heart-alone transplantation (HA). We conducted a retrospective analysis of 32 CHLT and 280 HA recipients in a single-center experience. The primary outcome was incidence of ACR based on protocol and for-cause myocardial biopsy. Rejection was graded by the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation guidelines with Grade 2R and higher considered significant. Secondary outcomes included the development of new DSAs, cardiac function, and patient and cardiac graft survival rates. Of CHLT patients, 9.7% had ACR compared with 45.3% of HA patients (p < 0.01). Mean pretransplant calculated panel reactive antibody (cPRA) levels were similar between groups (CHLT 9.4% vs. HA 9.5%; p = 0.97). Among patients who underwent testing, 26.9% of the CHLT and 16.7% of HA developed DSA (p = 0.19). Despite the difference in ACR, patient and cardiac graft survival rates were similar at 5 years (CHLT 82.1% vs. HA 80.9% [p = 0.73]; CHLT 82.1% vs. HA 80.9% [p = 0.73]). CHLT reduced the incidence of ACR in the cardiac allograft, suggesting that the liver offers immunoprotection against cellular mechanisms of rejection without significant impacts on patient and cardiac graft survival rates. CHLT did not reduce the incidence of de novo DSA, possibly portending similar long-term survival among cardiac allografts in CHLT and HA.

De Novo Donor Specific Antibody and Long-Term Outcome After Liver Transplantation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background

The impact of de novo anti-HLA donor-specific alloantibodies (DSA) which develop after long-term liver transplantation (LT) remains controversial and unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of de novo DSAs on the outcome in LT.

Methods

We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published until Dec 31, 2019, that reported de novo DSA outcome data (≥1 year of follow-up) after liver transplant. A literature search in the MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection databases was performed.

Results

Of 5,325 studies identified, 15 fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The studies which reported 2016 liver transplant recipients with de novo DSAs showed an increased complication risk, i.e. graft loss and chronic rejection (OR 3.61; 95% CI 1.94-6.71, P < 0.001; I2 58.19%), and allograft rejection alone (OR 6.43; 95% CI: 3.17-13.04; P < 0.001; I2 49.77%); they were compared to patients without de novo DSAs. The association between de novo DSAs and overall outcome failure was consistent across all subgroups and sensitivity analysis.

Conclusions

Our study suggested that de novo DSAs had a significant deleterious impact on the liver transplant risk of rejection. The routine detection of de novo DSAs may be beneficial as noninvasive biomarker-guided risk stratification.