Treatment of Acute Antibody-Mediated Rejection

Abstract

Acute antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) remains an important challenge in the field of kidney transplantation despite the advances in immunosuppressive strategies, and has been recognized as an important cause of allograft dysfunction and graft loss. The treatments of acute AMR are not standardized and poor evidence is currently available on the effectiveness of therapy regimens with combinations of drugs. Standard treatment for acute AMR is based on 3 cornerstones: removal of donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) from the bloodstream, reduction of DSAs synthesis, and inhibition of the interaction between DSAs and human leukocyte antigen antigens on donor's cells. In this paper, we discuss the mechanism of action of the principal drugs currently in use, the main published studies on this topic, and the future insights related to the treatment of acute AMR.