Serum levels of interleukin-9 during acute rejection in liver transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Interleukin-9 (IL-9) has been cast as a player in autoimmunity, but its role in liver transplantation remains to be clarified. The aim of our study was to investigate the time course of IL-9 serum levels during hepatic allograft rejection. METHODS: IL-9 serum levels were determined in 34 healthy subjects and 50 hepatic transplant recipients. The patients were divided into two groups: group I was composed of 15 patients with acute rejection episodes, and group II, 35 patients free of this problem. Samples were collected on days 1 and 7 after liver transplantation and on the day of liver biopsy. RESULTS: The concentrations of IL-9 were similar in the rejection and nonrejection groups over the entire postoperative period. The whole transplant group, including those with stable graft function, showed higher IL-9 serum levels than the controls at all times after liver transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest a lack of participation of IL-9 in human liver allograft rejection.

Interleukin-9 in stable liver transplant recipients.

INTRODUCTION: Interleukin-9 (IL-9) has recently been described to be involved in the maintenance of a tolerant environment, but there is no evidence of its role in human liver transplantation. The aim of our study was to measure the serum levels of IL-9 in stable liver transplant recipients and examine their influence on immunosuppressant load. METHODS: Serum IL-9 levels were determined in 34 healthy subjects and 30 stable liver transplant recipients who were free of rejection episodes for at least 8 years. The results were analyzed according to the blood levels of calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) at the time of the study: 13 patients showed high concentrations of either cyclosporine or tacrolimus (high CNI: cyclosporine > 80 ng/mL or tacrolimus > 5 ng/mL) and another 17 patients showed low CNI levels. RESULTS: The concentrations of IL-9 were significantly higher among liver transplant recipients compared with healthy subjects. In addition, patients with low CNI blood levels showed higher serum levels of IL-9, an effect that was greater with tacrolimus, albeit not significantly. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results indicated that increased serum IL-9 concentrations accompanied a lower immunosuppressive load. It remains to be established whether this relates to induction of tolerance in liver transplantation.

Liver transplantation with donors older than 75 years.

INTRODUCTION: Orthotopic liver transplantation has shown successful results over the last years. For this reason there are increased numbers of patients on waiting lists. To expand the pool of liver donors, elderly donors have been used as a strategy. OBJECTIVE: We report our experience comparing donors of ≥ 75 years with younger ages for their characteristics, clinical outcomes, and survivals. METHODS: From January 2001 to December 2009, we performed 174 consecutive liver transplantation from cadaveric donors in 166 patients. During this period, we used 24 liver grafts from donors ≥ 75 years. We analyzed their outcomes retrospectively, describing donors and recipient characteristics and their clinical evolution. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time among the entire study population was 42 ± 39 months. We observed an overall survival of 68.3% with similar incidences in both groups: 83% in the younger versus 78% in the older group at 1 year, and 69% versus 63%, at 5 years respectively. Both groups showed similar lengths of intensive care unit stay, cold and warm ischemia times, and intraoperative transfusion requirements. The older group had a total operative time than was longer and fewer hypotensive episodes than the younger group. There were no significant differences in the rates of rejection and retransplantation between the groups. The use of older donor livers was associated with a significantly higher rate of poor initial graft function (P = .027), an increased number of reinterventions (P = .013) in the older donor group, as well as more frequent vascular and biliar complications, without reaching significance. CONCLUSION: Our data suggested that donor age alone did not engendered a survival disadvantage for graft or recipient. However, careful donor selection is needed to avoid additional risk factors that can increase the morbidity or mortality of the procedure.

Ferromagnetism in fcc twinned 2.4 nm size Pd nanoparticles.

The onset of ferromagnetism has been experimentally observed in small Pd particles of average diameter 2.4 nm. High-resolution studies reveal that a high percentage of the fcc particle exhibits single and multiple twinning boundaries. The spontaneous magnetization close to 0.02 emu/g seems to indicate that only a small fraction of atoms holds a permanent magnetic moment and contributes to ferromagnetism. The possible origin of ferromagnetism is briefly discussed according to different models recently reported.