Anti-TNFα as an Adjunctive Therapy in Pancreas and Kidney Transplantation

TL;DR

This study found that adding anti-TNFα therapy to standard treatment after pancreas transplants reduced rejection without increasing infections.

Contribution

The novel contribution is evidence that anti-TNFα therapy is safe and reduces rejection in pancreas transplantation.

Findings

Anti-TNFα therapy significantly reduced the occurrence of pancreas rejection.

There was no increased risk of infections in patients receiving anti-TNFα.

Pancreas survival rates were similar between groups receiving and not receiving anti-TNFα.

Abstract

The rate of early pancreas allograft failure remains high due to thrombosis but also to severity of rejection episodes. We investigated if adjunct anti-TNFα therapy was safe and could improve outcomes after pancreas transplantation. We investigated all pancreas transplants performed in our institution between 2010 and 2022. Etanercept, an anti TNFα therapy, was added to our standard immunosuppressive regimen since 2017 after approval from our institutional human ethics committee. Pancreas survival, rejection episodes, as well as infectious complications were analyzed. A total of 236 pancreas transplants were included, among whom 87 received Etanercept for induction. In multivariable analysis, after adjustment on confounding variables, pancreas survival did not differ between groups (HR = 0.92, CI 95% = 0.48; 1.73, p = 0.79). However, patients receiving Etanercept presented a significantly lower occurrence of pancreas rejection in multivariate analysis (HR = 0.36, CI 95% = 0.14; 0.95, p = 0.04). Patients receiving Etanercept did not experienced a higher risk of bacterial, fungal, CMV nor BK virus infections compared to the non-treated group. The use of anti-TNFα after pancreas transplantation was safe and did not increase infectious complications. Despite a similar rate of thrombosis, anti-TNFα significantly reduced pancreatic rejection, thus supporting its use among pancreas transplant recipients.

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