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Purpose: The optimal agent to use for induction therapy in hepatitis C virus positive (HCV+) kidney transplant recipients is not known. We sought to investigate effects of induction therapy with thymoglobulin (THY) versus Basiliximab (BAS) in HCV+ kidney transplant recipients.
Methods: HCV+ kidney transplant recipients between January 2008 and August 2011 were tracked prospectively. Comparisons were performed between patients who received induction therapy with THY vs. BAS with Fisher’s exact test or Student t-test for categorical and continuous variables, respectively.
Results: Our analysis was performed in a total of 37 HCV+ kidney transplant recipients of whom 26 patients received induction therapy with THY and 11 received BAS. Baseline demographic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, panel reactive antibody levels and HCV-RNA were similar between the groups. After a mean follow-up of 834 ± 386 days, graft survival was 73% vs. 82% (p = 0.695) and patient survival was 81% vs. 91% (p = 0.646) in the THY vs. BAS group, respectively. There was one acute rejection episode in each group. The mean serum creatinine at the last follow-up was 2.4 ± 2.3 mg/dL in the THY group versus 1.8 ± 1.2 mg/dL in the BAS group. There were no significant differences between the two induction groups in the other clinical outcomes such as hospital length of stay, intensive unit admission, return to OR, blood transfusion, and bacterial infections. For viral infections, incidence of CMV infections was similar between the two groups. However, there were two cases of BK virus infections in the THY group vs. none in the BAS group.
Conclusions: There were no significant differences in treatment outcomes with either THY or BAS induction in HCV+ kidney transplant recipients. Either agent can be used as an induction therapy in appropriately selected HCV+ kidney transplant recipients.