| Institution: | 1. Department of Cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Smidt Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA;2. Paris Translational Research Centre for Organ Transplantation, Université de Paris, INSERM, Paris, France;3. Department of Pharmacy, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA;4. Department of Cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Smidt Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA
Department of Transplant Medicine, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan;5. HLA Laboratory, Comprehensive Transplant Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA;6. Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, Cardiology Institute, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Sorbonne University Medical School, Paris, France |
| Abstract: | Allosensitization represents a major barrier to heart transplantation (HTx). We assessed the efficacy and safety of complement inhibition at transplant in highly sensitized heart transplant recipients. We performed a single-center, single-arm, open-label trial (NCT02013037). Patients with panel reactive antibodies (PRA) ≥70% and pre–formed donor-specific antibodies (DSA) were eligible. In addition to standard of care, patients received nine infusions of eculizumab during the first 2 months posttransplant. The primary composite endpoint was antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) ≥pAMR2 and/or left ventricular dysfunction during the first year. Secondary endpoints included hemodynamic compromise, allograft rejection, and patient survival. Twenty patients were included. Median cPRA and mean fluorescence intensity of immunodominant DSA were 95% (90%–97%) and 6250 (5000–10 000), respectively. Retrospective B cell and T cell flow crossmatches were positive in 14 and 11 patients, respectively. The primary endpoint occurred in four patients (20%). Survival at 1 year was 90% with no deaths resulting from AMR. In a prespecified analysis comparing treated patients to matched control patients, we observed a dramatic reduction in the risk of biopsy-proven AMR in patients treated with eculizumab (HR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.14–0.95, p = .032). Our findings support the prophylactic use of complement inhibition for heart transplantation at high immunological risk. ClinincalTrials.gov, NCT02013037. |
