Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H Kreis

Publications and source records attributed to H Kreis.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Cost of treating predialysis patients with recombinant human erythropoietin.

Treatment of the anaemia of predialysis patients with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) is likely to become a widely accepted practice during the coming years. We estimated the impact on health care expenditures with the example of the French population of end-stage renal disease patients. Using retrospective data, we calculated the percentage of predialysis patients with advanced chronic renal failure who would be eligible for treatment according to two different criteria based on haemoglobin and clinical condition, the total duration of treatment, and the total amount of rHuEpo delivered. We estimate that the total cost of treating French predialysis patients could vary between 2.2 and 6.5 million Swiss francs, or 50,000 to 140,000 Swiss francs per million population, using rHuEpo dosage from 50 to 150 IU/kg week.

Aged↗

[T CD57+ lymphocytes in kidney transplanted patients. Phenotypic and functional study].

Phenotypic analysis showed a significant increase of CD3+/CD57+ lymphocyte subpopulation in 88 kidney-transplanted patients when compared with non-transplanted patients. No clear correlation was found between the increase of this cell subpopulation and renal function, immunosuppressive regimen, and allogenic or viral stimuli, when each of these factors was considered. Conversely, there was a significant correlation between the proportion of CD3+/CD4+/CD57+ cells and the post-transplant follow-up period. Finally, functional study of CD3+/CD57+ cells suggested that they have suppressive properties, in vitro.

Antigens, CD↗

[Effect of pregnancy on renal function after transplantation].

Between 1968 and 1991, 36 pregnancies were reported in 28 patients who had undergone kidney transplantation at the Necker hospital, Paris. Pregnancies with favourable graft outcome were compared with those accompanied by significant deterioration of graft function and requiring haemolysis. The risk factors for renal function deterioration during pregnancy in kidney-transplanted women were found to be an initial nephropathy induced or aggravated by a previous pregnancy, an alteration, even mild, of graft function, hypertension, even controlled by treatment, an HLA mismatch and several episodes of acute graft rejection soon after kidney transplantation.

Female↗

Hepatitis C virus in kidney recipients. Epidemiology and impact on renal transplantation.

In an attempt to evaluate the prevalence, kinetics and impact of HCV infection in renal transplantation, we analyzed 140 kidney recipients according to the histopathological status of the liver. Thirty-three HBsAg-negative patients had chronic active hepatitis, 73 HBsAg-negative patients had a normal liver, 21 HBsAg-negative kidney recipients had minimal pathological changes and 13 patients had HBsAg-positive cirrhosis. Serum antibodies to HCV were detected using the ELISA from Ortho Diagnostic and confirmatory tests using the Ortho recombinant-based immunoblot assays. The overall prevalence of antiHCV antibodies was 23.6%. AntiHCV were more frequently present in HBsAg-negative patients with chronic active hepatitis (60.6%) than in HBsAg-negative patients with normal livers (8.2%) (p less than 0.0001) or minimal liver changes (33.3%) (NS) or in HBsAg-positive patients with cirrhosis (0%) (p less than 0.001). The recombinant-based immunoblot assays confirmed antiHCV-positive ELISA results in 86.7% of patients. Among the 27 antiHCV-positive kidney recipients who had serial serological follow-up, 10 (37.0%) were already positive at transplantation and remained antiHCV-positive during follow-up. Eleven patients (40.8%) acquired antiHCV an average of 95 months after renal transplantation, while antiHCV disappeared an average of 111 months after transplantation in six (22.2%), who had antiHCV prior to transplantation. The kinetics of antiHCV antibodies did not differ according to liver histology. Patient and graft survival were not different in antiHCV-positive and antiHCV-negative kidney recipients irrespective of liver histology, and there was no difference in survival between antiHCV-positive and antiHCV-negative patients with chronic hepatitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Prediction of successful allograft rejection retreatment with OKT3.

OKT3 is considered to be effective in the prophylaxis and treatment of rejection. However, anti-OKT3 immunization is still a major side-effect. Only the IgG antiidiotypic component of the response is responsible for neutralization of OKT3 therapeutic activity by inhibiting OKT3's binding to T cells (i.e., blocking antibodies). It has recently been reported that successful OKT3 retreatment could be performed in patients showing circulating anti-OKT3 antibodies assessed by ELISA, which does not distinguish between blocking and nonblocking antibodies. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of these two types of anti-OKT3 antibodies for their capacity to interfere with effective OKT3 retreatment. Twelve cadaver renal allograft recipients who received OKT3 inducing therapy, were given a second 10 day-course of OKT3 for treatment of rejection. Circulating CD3+ cells were sequentially monitored. Anti-OKT3 antibodies were detected by using both conventional ELISA and an immunofluorescence inhibition test specifically detecting blocking antibodies. OKT3 and the patient's serum were incubated for 30 min at 4 degrees C, and 2 x 10(5) normal T cells were added (30 min at 4 degrees C). After washing, the cells were incubated with FITC goat antimouse antiserum. Fluorescent cells were counted using a FACS analyzer. In 10 patients, at the end of the 10-day second course, less than 10% circulating CD3+ cells were detected. None of these patients had detectable antibodies in the IF inhibition assay at the beginning of retreatment, irrespective of anti-OKT3 antibody titers detected by ELISA. In contrast, in two patients, OKT3 therapy was ineffective: more than 50% circulating CD3+ cells were detected and OKT3 treatment had to be interrupted soon after it was initiated. In both of them, blocking antibodies were detected by the IF-inhibition assay. These results suggest that specific detection of blocking antiidiotypic antibodies by the IF inhibition assay is a reliable parameter for predicting the feasibility of OKT3 retreatment, avoiding misuse of this expensive therapy.

Adolescent↗

Absence of hepatitis delta virus infection in chronic hemodialysis and kidney transplant patients in france.

Hemodialyzed patients and kidney recipients are frequently multiply-transfused and infected by hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) has a symbiotic association with HBV. The prevalence of HDV infection has, surprisingly, not been assessed in patients in hemodialysis or renal transplantation setting. We retrospectively studied the prevalence of serum delta antigen and antidelta antibodies by a microenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 77 of the 80 HBsAg-positive patients who underwent a kidney transplantation over a 10-year period. Of these patients, 73% had active HBV replication as assessed by the presence of serum HBV DNA and 65% had a biopsy-proved chronic active hepatitis, including cirrhosis. None of our patients had any marker of HDV infection at the end of the hemodialysis period or at the end of follow-up in transplantation. These results establish that HDV superinfection has indeed been extremely rare during end-stage renal failure and kidney transplantation in France, in contrast to HBV reactivation or hepatitis C virus infection.

DNA, Viral↗

Gd-DOTA-enhanced MR imaging and color Doppler US of renal allograft necrosis.

In 21 recipients of renal transplants suspected of allograft necrosis, the authors correlated the results of imaging to pathologic and histologic data in order to describe the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and color Doppler ultrasonographic (US) characteristics of infarction. All patients underwent MR imaging performed with and without gadolinium tetraazacyclododecanetetraacetic acid (DOTA) and color Doppler US. Nonenhanced T1-weighted images showed no obvious changes, whereas nonenhanced T2-weighted images demonstrated a slight increase in signal intensity in areas of ischemic necrosis and low or heterogeneous signal intensity in areas of hemorrhagic necrosis. Gd-DOTA-enhanced MR images showed no contrast material uptake in infarcted areas. Color Doppler US characteristics of infarction included absence of Doppler signal and alteration of the cortical echogenic structure, particularly in cases of ischemic necrosis. Color Doppler US allows measurement of vascular resistance and assessment of intrarenal vasculature and the renal pedicle. Gd-DOTA-enhanced MR imaging is useful in confirming the diagnosis of infarction and provides an accurate evaluation of the extent of the infarct.

Adult↗

[Hepatitis C in kidney recipients. Epidemiology and impact on kidney transplantation].

In an attempt to evaluate the prevalence, the kinetics and the impact of HCV infection in renal transplantation, we analyzed 140 kidney recipients according to hepatic histology: 33 HBsAg negative patients had chronic active hepatitis, 73 HBsAg negative patients had a normal liver, 21 HBsAg negative kidney recipients had minimal pathological changes and 13 patients had HBsAg positive cirrhosis. Serum antibodies to HCV were detected using the ELISA test. The overall prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was 24.3 percent: anti-HCV were more frequently present in HBsAg negative patients with chronic active hepatitis (57.5 percent) than in HBsAg negative patients with normal liver (8.2 percent) (P less than 0.0001) or minimal changes (33.3 percent, NS) and HBsAg positive patients with cirrhosis (15.4 percent) (P = 0.02). Among the 30 anti-HCV positive kidney recipients with serological follow up, 13 (43.3 percent) had anti-HCV antibodies at the time of transplantation and kept anti-HCV during follow up, 11 (36.7 percent) acquired anti-HCV after renal transplantation in a mean time-lag of 95 months while 6 (20 percent), who had anti-HCV prior to transplantation, exhibited negativation of anti-HCV antibodies in a mean time-lag of 111 months after transplantation. The kinetics of anti-HCV antibodies was the same irrespective of the liver status. Patients and grafts survivals were not different in anti-HCV positive and anti-HCV negative kidney recipients, whatever the hepatic histology. Our data suggest that, in kidney transplantation, a) the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies is around 24 percent in kidney recipients and varies greatly according to hepatic histology; b) anti-HCV antibodies are not systematically associated with the development of chronic liver disease; c) post-transfusion hepatitis as well as so called community acquired hepatitis may occur in transplantation follow up; d) HCV infection does not clearly influence the survival of allograft or that of kidney recipients.

Adult↗

Corticosteroid inhibition of the OKT3-induced cytokine-related syndrome--dosage and kinetics prerequisites.

The data presented extend to a larger series of 27 consecutive renal allograft recipients treated prophylactically with OKT3 our previous observation that the acute OKT3-induced clinical syndrome is related to massive release in the circulation of some cytokines, among which are tumor necrosis factor and interferon gamma. In addition, a pilot randomized study was set up including 12 consecutive patients receiving high-dose corticosteroid treatment (0.5 g solumedrol) either before or at the same time as the first OKT3 injection. Results confirm that when corticosteroids are given in sufficient amount and, importantly, 1 hr before the first OKT3 injection, they significantly decrease the release of both tumor necrosis factor and interferon gamma. In addition, the pretreatment with corticosteroids may totally abolish the IL-2 release induced by OKT3. Given the key role the massive although transient cytokine release plays in determining the OKT3-induced acute syndrome, these results provide the biological basis supporting a precise kinetics of administration of high-dose corticosteroids to better decrease the severity of the clinical reaction.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Differential in situ expression of cytokines in renal allograft rejection.

The expression of the interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) genes was studied in human renal biopsies from individuals without evidence of kidney disease and from patients undergoing acute renal allograft rejection using a method of in situ hybridization capable of detecting 1-5 copies of a specific cellular messenger RNA in individual cells. IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma RNA transcripts were not detected in any of the sections of normal human kidneys. Elevated levels of IL-6 mRNA but not IFN-gamma were, however, detected in the sections of the renal biopsies from six of eight patients exhibiting acute rejection. A uniform level of expression of IL-6 mRNA was observed in all the cells examined, including glomerular cells, tubular epithelia, smooth muscle cells, and vascular endothelia, as well as the interstitial mononuclear infiltrate. Juxtatabular clusters of TNF-alpha mRNA were detected in the absence of IL-6 mRNA in one patient exhibiting acute rejection. Only a small number of grains (1-5 per high-power field) was detected in the urinary space or in the tubular or vascular lumen following hybridization with the IL-6 or TNF-alpha probes. In contrast, in kidney transplant patients with stable renal function no significant labeling was observed with the IL-6, TNF-alpha, or IFN-gamma probes. A similar level of expression of actin mRNA was observed in all the sections of normal and transplanted kidneys studied, suggesting that the overall level of RNA synthesis was similar in both groups. These results suggest that cytokines such as IL-6 play a role in acute allograft rejection.

Cytokines↗

[Longitudinal study of histocompatibility antigen expression in renal transplants followed for 10 years].

Using monoclonal antibodies against class I and class II (DR antigen) major histocompatibility complex antigens, 65 renal transplant biopsies from 21 recipients whose renal transplants survived ten years or more were studied. Seven biopsies were performed while acute rejection of the renal transplant was under way. The other biopsies were carried out on a routine basis, 6 months (10 biopsies), 2 years (15 biopsies), 4 years (12 biopsies), and 10 years (21 biopsies) after transplantation. Semiquantitative evaluation of fibrous tubulointerstitial lesions was carried out on the biopsies taken after ten years. During episodes of acute rejection, strong expression of class I and class II HLA molecules by transplant tubule epithelial cells was found. When there was no acute rejection, tubule expression of class I and class II HLA molecules was more common in earlier biopsies as compared with later biopsies. In the long-term, persistence of DR antigen in tubule epithelium was associated with increased severity of fibrous tubulointerstitial lesions. A last remarkable finding in some patients was loss of expression of class I antigens in tubule cells from transplants with the longest survivals.

Adolescent↗