Anti-thymocyte globulin versus basiliximab induction in renal : long-term outcome

Abstract EN

Although basiliximab and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) are effective in delaying and reducing the incidence of acute rejection (AR) thus improving short-term graft survival, their impact on long-term graft survival has not been well established in renal transplant recipients.

To evaluate the long-term efficacy after induction therapy with ATG/basiliximab in renal transplant recipients, we studied retrospectively 86 renal transplant recipients of living donor renal transplantation from 2003 to 2006; of them, 42 patients received induction with ATG three doses of 50 mg, 25 mg, 25 mg/day on 0, 1 and 2 post-operative days (POD) and 44 agematched patients received induction with basiliximab (20 mg/day on 0 and 4 PODs).

All the patients received tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids as maintenance immunosuppressive therapy.

Demographic characteristics were similar between both groups.

Patient survival at 5 years was 90.5% in the ATG group and 84.1% in the basiliximab group, while graft survival was 83.4% and 77.3%, respectively.

The incidence of acute rejection was 14.2% and 18.1% in the ATG and the basiliximab groups, respectively.

The estimated mean glomerular filtration rates at 5 years post-transplantation was 52.1 mL/min and 49.1 mL/min and the mean serum creatinine levels were 1.55 ± 0.37 and 1.66 ± 0.51 mg/dL in the ATG and basiliximab groups, respectively.

A low incidence of tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus (CMV) was observed in the ATG group.

There were no significant differences between the two groups, and both induction regimens assured a safe and effective treatment and were associated with similar excellent long-term patient and graft survival.