The Global Alliance for Transplantation

International pediatric transplant association (IPTA) guidance on developing and/or expanding pediatric solid organ transplantation programs in low- and middle-income countries

Pediatric solid organ transplantation (SOT) is a preferred treatment for medically suitable children with end-stage organ failure. Still, many of them have no access to transplantation owing to socioeconomic constraints or lack of transplant facilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Establishing pediatric SOT programs in LMIC offers children the opportunities to receive transplant care in more familiar home environments as well as help curtail transplant tourism and improve transplant outcomes as pediatric transplantation would be performed ethically and legally. The International Pediatric Transplant Association (IPTA) is a professional organization aiming to promote safe, ethical, and high-quality pediatric transplantation worldwide. This society paper describes major obstacles to pediatric SOT in LMIC and provides guidance on developing and/or expanding pediatric SOT programs in such countries. We also summarize available resources from the IPTA Outreach Program to help establish and support pediatric SOT programs in LMIC.

Transplants in Foreign Countries Among Patients Removed from the US Transplant Waiting List

Transplant tourism, where patients travel to foreign countries specifically to receive a transplant, is poorly characterized. This study examined national data to determine the minimum scope of this practice. US national waiting list removal data were analyzed. Waiting list removals for transplant without a corresponding US transplant in the database were reviewed via a data validation query to transplant centers to identify foreign transplants. Additionally, waiting list removal records with text field entries indicating a transplant abroad were identified. We identified 373 foreign transplants (173 directly noted; 200 from data validation); most (89.3%) were kidney transplants. Between 2001 and 2006, the annual number of waiting list removals for transplant abroad increased. Male sex, Asian race, resident and nonresident alien status and college education were significantly and independently associated with foreign transplant. Recipients from 34 states, plus the District of Columbia, received foreign transplants in 35 countries, led by China, the Philippines and India. Transplants in foreign countries among waitlisted candidates in the US are increasingly performed. The data reported here represent the minimum number of cases and the full extent of this practice cannot be determined using existing data. Additional reporting requirements are needed.

A socioeconomic survey of kidney vendors in Pakistan

In recent years, Pakistan has emerged as one of the largest centres for commerce and tourism in renal transplantation. Kidney vendors belong to Punjab in eastern Pakistan, the agricultural heartland, where 34% people live below poverty line. We report results of a socioeconomic and health survey of 239 kidney vendors. The mean age was 33.6 +/- 7.2 years (M:F 3.5:1). Mean nephrectomy period was 4.8 +/- 2.3 years. Ninety per cent of the vendors were illiterate. Sixty-nine per cent were bonded labourers who were virtual slaves to landlords, labourers 12%, housewives 8.5% and unemployed 11%. Monthly income was $US15.4 +/- 8.9 with 2-11 dependents per family. Majority (93%), vended for debt repayment with mean debt of $1311.4 +/- 819. The mean agreed sale price was $1737 +/- 262. However, they received $1377 +/- 196 after deduction for hospital and travel expenses. Postvending 88% had no economic improvement in their lives and 98% reported deterioration in general health status. Future vending was encouraged by 35% to pay off debts and freedom from bondage. This study gives a snapshot of kidney vendors from Pakistan. These impoverished people, many in bondage, are examples of modern day slavery. They will remain exploited until law against bondage is implemented and new laws are introduced to ban commerce and transplant tourism in Pakistan.

The global alliance for transplantation

In 2002, The Transplantation Society proposed the creation of a Global Alliance for Transplantation, with the purpose of reducing the existing disparity regarding transplantation activities across the globe. This alliance should include major international scientific societies, international governmental organizations, and pharmaceutical companies. Consultations with each of these parties have taken place during the past 18 months and three Strategic Programs have been initiated: (1) the collection of information on transplantation; (2) the expansion of education in transplantation; and (3) the development of professional guidelines for organ donation and transplantation.

Can an allograft become harmonious with its recipient by analogous mechanisms to the long-term survival of a parasite in its host? Transplantation is similar to parasitism and chronic parasite infection can prolong allograft survival

Organ transplantation is very similar to the parasitism, the immune responses to the allograft and parasite share some general characters in acute stage. But host-parasite interplay seems harmonious and clinically asymptomatic carriers act as long-term reservoirs for transmission even several decades. It is proposed that the allograft also can survive long-term like the parasite harmonious with the host if we exploit the mechanism of the parasitism. How can the parasite escape the immunologic cleaning? Recent research found that: (1) Almost all the parasites infection can break the balance of Th1/Th2 and induce the Th2 bias. The level of cytokine excreted by Th2 is increased. (2) Parasite infection can interfere in antigen presentation processing through cystatins and "dendritic cell paralysis". (3) Regulatory T cells were found surrounding the local site of parasite worms. (4) Parasite infections can switch of eicosanoid metabolism, and the anti-inflammatory mediator of the plasma is increasingly manifest in the chronic infection stage. And in animal model, chronic infection can prolong the allograft survival. If the hypotheses are correct, it will give another novel therapeutic option for patients with organ transplantation.