Sunday, July 24, 2016

Clinical Case 88: Answers and Summary


Which one of these immune check point inhibitors leads to loss of transplanted kidney?


The correct answer is nivolumab or PD-1 inhibitors.  Several cases of kidney injury have now been reported when the immune check point inhibitor use in kidney transplant patients. While Lipson et al had initially reported successful administration of ipilimumab to two kidney transplantation patients with metastatic melanoma without any rejection, they recently reported a case of tumor regression but allograft rejection after administration of   pembrolizumab.  In addition, three cases of rejection were reported with use of nivolumab  in renal transplant patients with melanoma. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26951628
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26988410
Based on the 6 cases, it appears that PD-1 inhibitors are more prone to causing rejection in the transplanted kidney compared to CTLA-4 antagonists , especially when the  patients  have received anti CTLA-4 agents prior to PD-1 inhibitor treatment.  Graft tolerance might be minimized and hence rejection ensues.

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