Better transplants through centrifuging
Removing some antibodies from blood of kidney recipients can improve post-op outlook
By Nathan Seppa
Some people languishing on the waiting list for a kidney transplant might see their prospects brighten, thanks to a long-term study that has found a new use for an old technology. By using a centrifuge to spin out troublesome antibodies from the blood of people needing a transplant, researchers have rendered recipients able to tolerate a donated kidney they might have otherwise rejected.
Of the more than 80,000 people on the U.S. kidney transplant waiting list, at least 20,000 are at risk of rejecting a transplant despite standard antirejection drugs, says study coauthor Robert Montgomery, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He estimates that the new procedure could clear the way for 2,000 to 3,000 additional transplants annually. The study appears in the July 28 New England Journal of Medicine.
As many as 30 percent of people in need of a kidney transplant harbor antibodies against specific human proteins found in the donor organ. The antibodies can show up in anyone who has been exposed to foreign tissue via a blood transfusion, a previous transplant or even a pregnancy. These people, whom doctors classify as “sensitized” to other humans’ tissues, require a near-perfect match from a living donor to get a kidney that won’t be rejected — a medical long shot.