Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2012 Jul 27;94(2):178-84.
doi: 10.1097/TP.0b013e318253f7fa.

Racial differences in fibrosis progression after HCV-related liver transplantation

Jennifer E Layden  1 , Scott Cotler, Kimberly A Brown, Michael R Lucey, Helen S Te, Sheila Eswaran, Claus Fimmel, Thomas J Layden, Nina M Clark
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Racial differences in fibrosis progression after HCV-related liver transplantation

Jennifer E Layden et al. Transplantation. .

Abstract

Background: Black recipients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) have decreased patient and graft survival compared with white recipients, a finding that is primarily limited to black recipients of livers from white donors. The cause(s) for these discrepant outcomes are unclear but may be related to HCV disease recurrence. The rates of HCV-related disease recurrence and liver fibrosis progression among black and white liver transplant recipients have not been investigated.

Methods: In this study, we compared liver fibrosis progression between 105 black and 364 white recipients after HCV-related LT in a multisite cohort study and assessed the impact of donor race.

Results: At 6, 12, and 24 months after LT, there was a significantly higher percentage in the black recipient/white donor (B/W) group with severe fibrosis, defined as stage 3 or 4 (F3/F4), compared with all other recipient/donor race combinations. The adjusted odds ratio of developing F3/F4 for the B/W group was 2.54 (1.49-4.69; reference group, white recipient/white donor). Black recipients with black donors demonstrated a similar rate of progression to F3/F4 as white recipients. Patient survival was also decreased in the B/W group compared with other recipient/donor race combinations.

Conclusion: African American recipients with white donors have more severe fibrosis progression after HCV-related LT. The mechanisms responsible for accelerating fibrosis progression in this high-risk race-mismatched group need to be investigated.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 1a: Percent of patients with fibrosis stage 3/4 by recipient race Figure 1b: Percent of patients with fibrosis stage 3/4 by recipient/donor race combination W: White; B: Black; F3/F4: Fibrosis stage 3 or 4
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2a: One, two, and five-year patient mortality rate post-transplant by recipient/donor race Figure 2b: One, two, and five-year patient mortality rate post-transplant based on fibrosis progression W: White, B: Black; F3/F4: Fibrosis stage 3 or 4
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alter MJ, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan OV, et al. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. N Engl J Med. 1999 Aug 19;341(8):556–6. - PubMed
    1. Di Bisceglie AM, Goodman ZD, Ishak KG, et al. Long-term clinical and histopathological follow-up of chronic posttransfusion hepatitis. Hepatology. 1991;14:969–74. - PubMed
    1. Atler 1997 Epidemiology of Hepatitis C. Hepatology. 1997 Sep;26(3 Suppl 1):62S–65S. - PubMed
    1. Charlton M. Hepatitis C infection in liver transplantation. Am J Transplant. 2001 Sep;1(3):197–203. - PubMed
    1. Gane EJ, Portmann BC, Naoumov NV, et al. Long-term outcome of hepatitis C infection after liver transplantation. N Engl J Med. 1996 Mar 28;334(13):815–20. - PubMed

Publication types