Long‐term Results of Basiliximab Induction Immunosuppression in Pediatric Liver Graft Recipients

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

It has been shown that induction therapy with the monoclonal anti- Interleukin-2 receptor antibody basiliximab (Simulect™) is capable to reduce the incidence of acute graft rejection in adult and pediatric liver transplantation (Ltx). However, data on long-term results using basiliximab in children are still pending. Therefore, the objective of our study was to report on the long-term results of basiliximab induction therapy in pediatric liver transplant recipients. 54 children received two single doses of basiliximab in addition to cyclosporine and prednisolone following Ltx in our pilot study. We analyzed the incidence of acute and chronic graft rejection, that of PTLD, and patient and graft survival. The follow-up was 32 to 56 months. The historical control group (matched controls) consisted of 54 patients treated with a cyclosporine and prednisolone dual therapy. Patient survival was 53/54 in the treatment group and 51/54 in the controls. One patient was re-transplanted in the treatment group versus 3 patients in the control group. The incidence of acute graft rejection was 16.6% compared to 53.7% in the control group (p < 0.001), that of chronic rejection was comparable in both groups (1/54 vs. 1/54). The incidence of steroid resistant rejection was 4/54 vs. 6/54, that of PTLD was 1/54 vs. 0/54. There were no adverse effects seen which could be related to the antibody treatment. We conclude that basiliximab provides safe and effective induction immunosuppression in pediatric liver graft recipients. Short- and even long-term results are excellent.