Association of Baseline Viral Serology and Sirolimus Regimens With Kidney Transplant Outcomes: A 14-Year Registry-Based Cohort Study in the United States.

Background: The risks for transplant outcomes associated with baseline viral serostatus in kidney transplant recipients (KTR) on sirolimus have not been widely studied.
Methods: We performed a cohort-study of 61 590 adult KTR in 2000 to 2013. We used Cox regression models to determine the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of patient death, death-censored graft loss and posttransplant malignancy associated with the baseline serostatus (+ or -: hepatitis B core [HBc], hepatitis C virus [HCV], Epstein-Barr virus [EBV], or cytomegalovirus [CMV]) in KTR on sirolimus (SRL) + mycophenolate (MPA) or SRL + tacrolimus (Tac), relative to the control-regimen: Tac + MPA.
Results: Compared with Tac + MPA, SRL + MPA, and SRL + Tac were associated with higher risks of 5-year mortality (aHR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.23-1.60 and aHR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.38-1.83, respectively) and death-censored graft loss (aHR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.24-1.60 and aHR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.21-1.57, respectively). In KTR with negative pretransplant EBV, CMV, HBc, or HCV serostatus, SRL + MPA not SRL + Tac was associated with a lower risk of posttransplant malignancy compared with control (aHR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.10-0.72; aHR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.43-0.88; aHR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.97; and aHR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.65-0.98, respectively, for SRL + MPA and aHR, 0.98: 95% CI, 0.52-1.80; aHR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.46-1.06; aHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.66-1.06 and aHR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.67-1.07, respectively, for SRL + Tac). In KTR with positive serostatus to any of the above viruses, SRL + MPA or SRL + Tac was not associated with a different malignancy risk compared with control.
Conclusions: Compared with Tac + MPA, SRL regimens were associated with higher risks for patient death and graft loss, although SRL + MPA was associated with a lower risk for posttransplant malignancy in kidney allograft recipients with negative pretransplant HBc, HCV, EBV, or CMV serology.