Acute Rejection Rates and Graft Outcomes According to Induction Regimen among Recipients of Kidneys from Deceased Donors Treated with Tacrolimus and Mycophenolate

Background and objectives IL-2 receptor antagonist (IL2-RA) is recommended as a first-line agent for induction therapy in renal transplantation. However, this remains controversial in deceased donor renal transplantation (DDRT) maintained on tacrolimus (TAC)/mycophenolic acid (MPA) with or without steroids. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We studied the United Network for Organ Sharing Registry for patients receiving DDRT from 2000 to 2012 maintained on TAC/MPA at transplantation hospital discharge ( n =74,627) to compare outcomes of IL2-RA and other induction agents. We initially divided the cohort into two groups on the basis of steroid use at the time of discharge: steroid ( n =59,010) versus no steroid ( n =15,617). Each group was stratified into induction categories: IL2-RA, rabbit antithymocyte globulin (r-ATG), alemtuzumab, and no induction. The main outcomes were incidence of acute rejection within the first year and overall graft failure (defined as graft failure and/or death) post-transplantation. Propensity score (PS), specifically inverse probability of treatment weight, analysis was used to minimize selection bias caused by nonrandom assignment of induction therapies. Results Median (25th, 75th percentiles) follow-up times were 3.9 (1.1, 5.9) and 3.2 (1.1, 4.9) years for steroid and no steroid groups, respectively. Acute rejection within the first year and overall graft failure within 5 years of transplantation were more common in the no induction category (13.3%; P P =0.01, respectively) in the steroid group and the IL2-RA category (11.1%; P =0.16 and 27.4%; P Conclusions In DDRT, compared with IL2-RA induction, no induction was associated with similar outcomes when TAC/MPA/steroids were used. r-ATG seems to offer better graft survival over IL2-RA in steroid avoidance protocols.