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Introduction: Primary graft failure (PGF) is an important contributor to early mortality, accounting for 41% of deaths within the first 30 days after heart transplantation (HT). Donor hypernatremia has been associated with PGF development. However, controversial data exist regarding the impact of sodium deregulation in patient survival after HT. This study aimed to assess the influence of donor hypernatremia on PGF development and to determine the serum sodium level threshold to assist in decision-making for organ procurement., Methods: The medical record from 200 HT patients and organ donors were retrospectively assessed and categorized by PGF occurrence. Donor sodium levels were compared and cut-off points obtained by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. A multiple logistic regression model was applied to assess the effects of factors and covariates that influence PGF development., Results: Sodium levels of donors were significantly higher in recipients who developed PGF than those who did not develop PGF (162 vs. 153 mmol/L, P = .001). The sodium cut-off value determined by the ROC curve was 159 mmol/L. The group who received organs from donors with a serum sodium concentration ≥159 mmol/L had a higher incidence of PGF (63.3% vs 32.4%, P < .001). Furthermore, donor sodium levels ≥159 mmol/L increased the likelihood of recipients developing PGF by 3.4 times. It is also observed that the incidence of donor smoking addiction was significantly higher in the PGF group (28.6% vs. 11.5%, P = .004) and donor smoking addiction increased the risk of developing PGF by 2.8 times., Conclusion: Smoking addiction and the application of suboptimal organs from donors with hypernatremia contribute to primary graft failure in heart transplantation., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Vasculitis entails heterogeneous origins; it starts with an inflammatory process that leads to small vessels' necrosis, hemorrhage, and ischemic lesion, and may further result in occlusion of the vascular lumen. Vasculitis' contribution to allograft rejection is still unclear. This study aims to investigate the incidence of vasculitis in the early stages of heart transplantation as well as to assess the intragraft genes' expression associated with vascular function and subsequently to verify the way in which it affects the outcome of the allograft., Methods: In this retrospective study, 300 archive paraffin-embedded endomyocardial biopsies from 63 heart allograft recipients were assessed. Cellular rejection and vasculitis were diagnosed through histological analysis, and antibody-mediated rejection was performed with immunohistochemical C4d staining. The transcripts of ICAM, VCAM, VEGF, CCL2, IFNG, TGFB, TNF, ADIPOR1, and ADIPOR2 genes were examined through quantitative polymerase chain reaction using B2M for normalization., Results: We observed a higher prevalence of severe vasculitis in the early period of post-transplant, and recovery was observed to take place around 1 year post-transplant. Additionally, vasculitis was found to be directly associated with acute cellular rejection and antibody-mediated rejection. The intense C4d capillary positivity predicts higher long-term cardiovascular disease mortality. In comparison with the vasculitis-free group, the group with severe vasculitis displayed reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and an upregulation of VCAM and IFNG associated with the downregulation of VEGF, ADIPOR1, and ADIPOR2., Conclusion: The vasculitis associated with the presence of C4d and the change in intragraft gene expression profile may contribute to poor allograft outcomes., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Despite advances in immunosuppressive therapy, rejection still remains the main obstacle to a successful transplant. This study aims to explore the gene expression profile of the rejection process in order to decrease the number of unnecessary endomyocardial biopsies in stable patients., Methods: A total of 300 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) endomyocardial biopsies sampled from 63 heart allograft recipients were included in this study. Acute cellular rejection (ACR) and antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) were diagnosed by histological analysis and immunohistochemical C4d staining, respectively. Analysis of gene expression was performed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The samples were grouped according to the ISHLT rejection classification, aiming the statistical analysis., Results: There was a significant decrease in the HMOX1, AIF1, and CCL2 transcript over the post-transplantation period in non-rejection group (P<.001). Furthermore, the ADIPOR1, ADIPOR2, BCL2L1, and VEGFA protective genes were significantly downregulated in the ACR group (P<.05). ADIPOR2, BCL2L1, IL6, and NOS2 genes were also significantly downregulated in the AMR group than in the non-rejection group (P<.05)., Conclusion: The downregulations of the protective genes contribute to the allograft rejection, and the archived FFPE samples are useful for the gene expression analysis aiming the allograft rejection surveillance., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)