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This study shows that the mTORC pathway is central to the antiphospholipid syndrome. Among patients with kidney transplants and antiphospholipid syndrome, 70% of those treated with sirolimus had long-term functioning allografts versus 12% of those not treated with sirolimus. The antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of circulating antiphospholipid antibodies that result in vascular thrombosis and obstetrical complications. 1 The syndrome may be isolated or may occur in association with autoimmune disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Thrombotic events represent the major complication of the antiphospholipid syndrome, 2 and to date, long-term anticoagulation has been the only treatment shown to reduce vascular complications. However, that regimen does not prevent organ deterioration and death in high-risk patients, particularly those in whom catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome develops. In addition to the thrombotic complications, vascular cellular infiltrates and fibrosis of the . . .

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare, possibly life-threatening disease characterized by platelet activation, hemolysis and thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) leading to renal and other end-organ damage. We originally conducted two phase 2 studies (26 weeks and 1 year) evaluating eculizumab, a terminal complement inhibitor, in patients with progressing TMA (trial 1) and those with long duration of aHUS and chronic kidney disease (trial 2). The current analysis assessed outcomes after 2 years (median eculizumab exposure 100 and 114 weeks, respectively). At all scheduled time points, eculizumab inhibited terminal complement activity. In trial 1 with 17 patients, the platelet count was significantly improved from baseline, and hematologic normalization was achieved in 13 patients at week 26, and in 15 patients at both 1 and 2 years. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was significantly improved compared with baseline and year 1. In trial 2 with 20 patients, TMA event-free status was achieved by 16 patients at week 26, 17 patients at year 1, and 19 patients at year 2. Criteria for hematologic normalization were met by 18 patients at each time point. Improvement of 15 ml/min per 1.73 m2 or more in eGFR was achieved by 1 patient at week 26, 3 patients at 1 year, and 8 patients at 2 years. The mean change in eGFR was not significant compared with baseline, week 26, or year 1. Eculizumab was well tolerated, with no new safety concerns or meningococcal infections. Thus, a 2-year analysis found that the earlier clinical benefits achieved by eculizumab treatment of aHUS were maintained at 2 years of follow-up.

Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are a rare tumor type with a poor five-year survival rate and limited treatment options. Understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of this disease has been aided by genomic analyses highlighting alterations in TP53, WNT, and IGF signaling pathways. Further elucidation is needed to reveal therapeutically actionable targets in ACC. In this study, global DNA methylation levels were assessed by the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip Array on 18 ACC tumors and 6 normal adrenal tissues. A new, non-linear correlation approach, the discretization method, assessed the relationship between DNA methylation/gene expression across ACC tumors. This correlation analysis revealed epigenetic regulation of genes known to modulate TP53, WNT, and IGF signaling, as well as silencing of the tumor suppressor MARCKS, previously unreported in ACC. DNA methylation may regulate genes known to play a role in ACC pathogenesis as well as known tumor suppressors.

This study showed that assessment of the complement-binding capacity of donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies may help identify patients at high risk for kidney-allograft loss and may improve risk stratification to guide treatment. Despite considerable advances in transplantation, the induced alloimmune response remains a major determinant of late kidney-allograft loss. 1 – 3 In the United States and Europe, thousands of kidney transplants fail each year, and kidney-allograft failure is a major cause of end-stage renal disease, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and costs. 4 , 5 One of the most important advances in transplantation medicine has been the recognition that anti-HLA antibodies are destructive. 6 – 10 Various studies over the past decade have indicated that the alloimmune response, mediated by anti-HLA antibodies, plays a key role in the failure of kidney allografts; this concept has been extended . . .

Although cold ischemia time has been widely studied in renal transplantation area, there is no consensus on its precise relationship with the transplantation outcomes. To study this, we sampled data from 3839 adult recipients of a first heart-beating deceased donor kidney transplanted between 2000 and 2011 within the French observational multicentric prospective DIVAT cohort. A Cox model was used to assess the relationship between cold ischemia time and death-censored graft survival or patient survival by using piecewise log-linear function. There was a significant proportional increase in the risk of graft failure for each additional hour of cold ischemia time (hazard ratio, 1.013). As an example, a patient who received a kidney with a cold ischemia time of 30h presented a risk of graft failure near 40% higher than a patient with a cold ischemia time of 6h. Moreover, we found that the risk of death also proportionally increased for each additional hour of cold ischemia time (hazard ratio, 1.018). Thus, every additional hour of cold ischemia time must be taken into account in order to increase graft and patient survival. These findings are of practical clinical interest, as cold ischemia time is among one of the main modifiable pre-transplantation risk factors that can be minimized by improved management of the peri-transplantation period.

The robust detection of disease-associated splice events from RNAseq data is challenging due to the potential confounding effect of gene expression levels and the often limited number of patients with relevant RNAseq data. Here we present a novel statistical approach to splicing outlier detection and differential splicing analysis. Our approach tests for differences in the percentages of sequence reads representing local splice events. We describe a software package called Bisbee which can predict the protein-level effect of splice alterations, a key feature lacking in many other splicing analysis resources. We leverage Bisbee’s prediction of protein level effects as a benchmark of its capabilities using matched sets of RNAseq and mass spectrometry data from normal tissues. Bisbee exhibits improved sensitivity and specificity over existing approaches and can be used to identify tissue-specific splice variants whose protein-level expression can be confirmed by mass spectrometry. We also applied Bisbee to assess evidence for a pathogenic splicing variant contributing to a rare disease and to identify tumor-specific splice isoforms associated with an oncogenic mutation. Bisbee was able to rediscover previously validated results in both of these cases and also identify common tumor-associated splice isoforms replicated in two independent melanoma datasets.

In kidney transplant recipients, urine CXCL9 and CXCL10 (uCXCL9/10) chemokines have reached a sufficiently high level of evidence to be recommended by the European Society of Organ Transplantation for the monitoring of immune quiescence. To assess the risk of acute rejection (AR), the advantage of uCXCL9/10 is their cost-effectiveness and their high diagnostic performance. Here, we evaluated the feasibility of a next-generation immunoassay for quantifying uCXCL9/10 levels. It demonstrated high efficiency with minimal workflow and a 90-min time to result. Preanalytical studies indicated stability of uCXCL9/10 levels and analytical studies confirmed excellent linearity and precision. In a cohort of 1048 samples collected at biopsy, the results correlated significantly with ELISA quantification and were integrated into a previously validated 8-parameter urine chemokine model. The next generation immunoassay achieved an accuracy of 0.84 for AR diagnosis. This study validates this technology as a robust, locally available and unexpensive platform and marks a significant step towards the widespread implementation of uCXCL9/10, for immune quiescence monitoring. Therefore, we developed an open-access web application using uCXCL9/10 to calculate AR risk and improve clinical decision-making to perform biopsy, ushering in a new era in kidney transplantation, where personalized, data-driven care becomes the norm.

The role of complement in the biology of kidney transplantation is becoming more and more significant, especially but not only because we now have access to drugs inhibiting complement. After describing the main characteristics of complement biology, both activation of the complement cascade and the many regulatory factors, we will review the precise role of complement in kidney transplant biology. Complement activation has been involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury, in the recurrence of several diseases such as atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, C3 glomerulopathies, and antiphospholipid syndrome, as well as the process of antibody-mediated rejection, either acute or chronic. There are many potentially interesting drugs interfering with complement inhibition that have been or may be studied in kidney transplantation. Currently, the bulk of data concerns eculizumab, a monoclonal antibody blocking the complement cascade at the C5. Its efficacy has been demonstrated in the treatment and prevention of recurrence of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome with an overall good safety profile. Although it has been reported to be efficacious to prevent antibody-mediated rejection, properly designed trials are currently being performed to state this efficacy. In addition, randomized trials are, in the process, regarding the prevention of ischemia-reperfusion injury after kidney transplantation.

Rapamycin (also known as sirolimus) is a potent immunosuppressive drug that is often used after organ transplant to prevent rejection, but it also can cause kidney dysfunction. Fabiola Terzi and her colleagues now show this side effect of rapamycin is due to targeting of mTORC2 and suppression of AKT2 activity in podocytes. They also show that AKT2 normally acts to maintain podocyte viability and structure during chronic kidney disease. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), loss of functional nephrons results in metabolic and mechanical stress in the remaining ones, resulting in further nephron loss. Here we show that Akt2 activation has an essential role in podocyte protection after nephron reduction. Glomerulosclerosis and albuminuria were substantially worsened in Akt2 −/− but not in Akt1 −/− mice as compared to wild-type mice. Specific deletion of Akt2 or its regulator Rictor in podocytes revealed that Akt2 has an intrinsic function in podocytes. Mechanistically, Akt2 triggers a compensatory program that involves mouse double minute 2 homolog (Mdm2), glycogen synthase kinase 3 (Gsk3) and Rac1. The defective activation of this pathway after nephron reduction leads to apoptosis and foot process effacement of the podocytes. We further show that AKT2 activation by mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) is also required for podocyte survival in human CKD. More notably, we elucidate the events underlying the adverse renal effect of sirolimus and provide a criterion for the rational use of this drug. Thus, our results disclose a new function of Akt2 and identify a potential therapeutic target for preserving glomerular function in CKD.

The use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) has emerged as a promising strategy to promote immune tolerance. However, in conventional T cells (Tconvs), CAR expression is often associated with tonic signaling, which can induce CAR-T cell dysfunction. The extent and effects of CAR tonic signaling vary greatly according to the expression intensity and intrinsic properties of the CAR. Here, we show that the 4-1BB CSD-associated tonic signal yields a more dramatic effect in CAR-Tregs than in CAR-Tconvs with respect to activation and proliferation. Compared to CD28 CAR-Tregs, 4-1BB CAR-Tregs exhibit decreased lineage stability and reduced in vivo suppressive capacities. Transient exposure of 4-1BB CAR-Tregs to a Treg stabilizing cocktail, including an mTOR inhibitor and vitamin C, during ex vivo expansion sharply improves their in vivo function and expansion after adoptive transfer. This study demonstrates that the negative effects of 4-1BB tonic signaling in Tregs can be mitigated by transient mTOR inhibition. Chimeric antigen receptor engineering in T cells has been shown to be of great potential therapeutic benefit in a range of immune pathologies, although the functionality of such cell therapies can be limited due to tonic signalling and the induction of dysfunction. Here the authors show transient inhibition of mTOR can rescue their 41-BB-CAR-Tregs from tonic signalling-induced dysfunction.