Transplantation in resource-limited setting: using HIV-positive donors for HIV-positive patients

A HIV positive-to-positive program was started in South Africa in 2008. The program was started because dialysis is not freely available to everyone, but severely limited and only available to a selected group of patients.

Between September 2008 and March 2015, 29 patients were transplanted from HIV-positive brain-dead donors at Groote Schuur Hospital transplant team. Donors were either naïve to anti-retroviral therapy or on first line therapy. The recipients were selected to have undetectable plasma HIV type 1 RNA levels and be on a stable antiretroviral regimen. CD4+ T-cell counts of at least 200/mm3 in last 6 months prior to transplant, with no previous serious opportunistic infections.

Survivors in the study were followed for a median of 2.4 years. The rate of patient survival was 84% at 1 year and 74% at 5 years. The corresponding graft survival rate was 93% and 84%.

Using HIV-positive donors might resolve some of the problems we are experiencing in getting enough donors for our patients wit ESRD. In the USA the HOPE act was accepted in 2014 and this might now also impact on the use of HIV positive donors elsewhere in the world.