Molecular diagnosis of rejection is emerging in kidney, heart, and lung transplant biopsies and could offer insights for liver transplant biopsies. We measured gene expression by microarrays in 235 liver transplant biopsies from 10 centers. Unsupervised archetypal analysis based on expression of previously annotated rejection-related transcripts identified 4 groups: normal "R1 normal " (N = 129), T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) "R2 TCMR " (N = 37), early injury "R3 injury " (N = 61), and fibrosis "R4 late " (N = 8). Groups differed in median time posttransplant, for example, R3 injury 99 days vs R4 late 3117 days. R2 TCMR biopsies expressed typical TCMR-related transcripts, for example, intense IFNG-induced effects. R3 injury displayed increased expression of parenchymal injury transcripts (eg, hypoxia-inducible factor EGLN1). R4 late biopsies showed immunoglobulin transcripts and injury-related transcripts. R2 TCMR correlated with histologic rejection although with many discrepancies, and R4 late with fibrosis. R2 TCMR , R3 injury , and R4 late correlated with liver function abnormalities. Supervised classifiers trained on histologic rejection showed less agreement with histology than unsupervised R2 TCMR scores. No confirmed cases of clinical antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) were present in the population, and strategies that previously revealed ABMR in kidney and heart transplants failed to reveal a liver ABMR phenotype. In conclusion, | 2157 MADILL-THOMSEN ET AL. 1 | INTRODUC TI ON Diagnosis of rejection in liver transplantation remains an important issue in clinical management. 1-4 The current standard-of-care (SOC) for liver biopsy diagnoses is histology, generally following Banff guidelines. 5 Histology is based on pattern recognition by experts, and assessments differ between observers. 6-11 Reported kappa values for pathology related to T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) are low to moderate (0.15-0.62 12) especially when comorbidities are present, 7 leaving an unmet need for improvement in precision. Moreover, the diagnosis and prevalence of antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) in liver transplants remain controversial. 5,13-15 Liver transplants present unique challenges because of their tolerogenic properties, inviting clinicians to consider reducing immunosuppression. 16-20 However, this practice requires a precise and accurate system for diagnosing rejection. 21-25 Liver function test abnormalities are associated with rejection but cannot distinguish TCMR from other diseases such as steatohepatitis. 26,27 Molecular measurement of gene expression using microarrays coupled with machine learning has the potential to improve the assessment of transplant biopsies by overcoming the limitations of conventional diagnostics. 28 We previously developed the Molecular Microscope ® Diagnostic System (MMDx) for kidney, 29-32 heart, 33,34 and lung transplants. 35-37 A number of factors argue that MMDx testing is more accurate than histology 29 : for example, use of continuous quantitative measurements, 29 low samplin...

We demonstrated transmission of TBEV by transplantation of solid organs. In such a setting, TBEV infection may be fatal, probably due to pharmacological immunosuppression. Organ donors should be screened for TBEV when coming from or visiting endemic areas.

Elevated urine IL-8 level in kidney transplant patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria may reflect impaired immune response to bacterial infection and occult inflammatory process in urinary tract.

The assumption that mindlessness underlies the effectiveness of the 'fear-then-relief' social influence technique has been verified in four studies. The first two experiments indicated that compliance of those experiment participants who were made to function on the thoughtful level under a 'fear-thenrelief' condition decreases to the level observed in the control group. The other two experiments were to analyze the cognitive functioning of people who at first experience fear and then a sudden and unexpected relief. The first of these experiments indicated that the amount of time needed to detect the expression of emotion on other persons' faces is prolonged, and the second of these latter two experiments that the participants' arithmetical abilities are impaired (mental addition and subtraction of three two-digit numbers). Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The fear-then-relief scene already belongs to the canon of action cinema and literature: two policemen run an interrogation; the first is very severe-usually older, he yells at the suspect and sometimes even beats him or her. Then suddenly the other policeman-a friendly man, who proposes coffee and a cigarette, and thinking aloud how to help the suspect, takes his place. Very often under these new unexpected circumstances, the suspect-so far obstinately refusing any form of cooperation-starts to confess everything, implicating not only himself or herself but even his or her companions. Dolinski and Nawrat (1998) assumed that the above 'good cop-bad cop' scenario is only an exemplification of a general rule, and is not just a specific phenomenon connected uniquely with police interrogation. They set forth the hypothesis that a sudden retraction of the external sources of fear leads to people's increased compliance with various requests, suggestions, and commands. They demonstrated, for instance, that requests to fill in a questionnaire or to make a charity donation were fulfilled much more willingly by people who had just heard the sound of a police whistle while crossing the road in a place not intended for that purpose, and after having turned their eyes in the direction of the sound suddenly realized that somebody (not a policeman) was just playing a joke.

An international collaborative study of 45 transplant centers was undertaken at the 14th International HLA (human leukocyte antigen) and Immunogenetics Workshop to see if HLA antibodies detected posttransplant are predictive of chronic graft failure. With the newly developed assay, MICA (major histocompatibility complex class I-related chain A) antibodies were also measured and their effect analyzed. Total of 5219 sera from patients who were more than 6 months posttransplant with functioning graft were tested for HLA antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometry, or Luminex. HLA antibodies were found in 27.2% of kidney patients, 23.6% in the liver, 52.7% in the heart, and 21.7% in the lung. The method of antibody testing did not have a marked influence on the frequency of antibodies detected. MICA antibodies were detected in 15% of kidney patients, 30% of heart patients, and 31% of liver patients. Among 948 kidney patients who had HLA antibodies, 7.3% had rejected their graft within 1 year of testing, compared with 1.7% in 2615 patients without HLA antibodies (P= 0.8 x 10(-17)). Death occurred in 1.4% of total kidney patients and did not correlate to the presence of antibodies. We conclude that patients with posttransplant HLA antibodies indeed have a higher rate of chronic graft failure and that posttransplant antibodies are predictive of chronic rejection.

Background: There are many doubts with regards to accepting deceased kidneys with acute kidney injury (AKI) for transplantation. Purpose: The aim of this study was to present the 5-years outcome of kidney transplantation cases where deceased donors developed AKI before organ procurement. Methods: Two hundred twenty-six deceased renal transplants were analyzed. Data regarding donors and recipients were collected. Terminal AKI was defined as terminal serum creatinine concentration higher than 1.99 mg/dL and 66 such cases were diagnosed. All kidney transplant recipients were followed for 60 months. Results: AKI group presented more episodes of delayed graft function (DGF) compared to the non-AKI group (56% vs 35%, p < .05). No differences were observed between the groups in the rate of acute rejection episodes, kidney function as well as patient and graft survival. Conclusions: Transplants with AKI present more often DGF and comparable graft survival to transplants without AKI. Kidneys with AKI can be a valuable source of organs provided attentive selection and appropriate care of deceased donors.

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