Current unmet needs in renal transplantation: a review of challenges and therapeutics

While has been considerable progress in the short-term outcomes following renal transplantation over the last several decades, minimal gains have been made with regards to long-term graft function and patient survival (1). The lack of long-term gains has been attributed to factors such as antibody mediated rejection (AMR), chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN), and toxicity to the allograft secondary to immunosuppression. Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is also thought to contribute to poor long-term graft function, and its impact on patient and graft outcomes will likely expand with the increasing use of marginal kidneys secondary to organ shortages. While patient survival remains far below that of the general population, the causes of death have evolved in recent years with decreases in the rate of death from cardiovascular disease and infection, and increases secondary to malignancy (2), which are largely attributable to the potency of modern immunosuppression. As such, the development of novel therapies which can prevent delayed graft function (DGF), minimize AMR, while simultaneously reducing toxicity is vital to the improvement of long-term graft and patient outcomes.