Background: Highly HLA-sensitized kidney transplant candidates are difficult to desensitize, which reduces their chances of receiving a transplant.
Methods: We administered tocilizumab as a monotherapy (8 mg/kg once a mo) to 14 highly sensitized kidney transplant candidates. Highest mean fluorescence intensities of anti-HLA antibodies obtained before and after tocilizumab administration were compared from raw and diluted sera.
Results: The administration of tocilizumab significantly reduced dominant anti-HLA antibody sensitization. However, this decrease in mean fluorescence intensities was minor compared with the initial values.
Conclusions: Tocilizumab as a monotherapy was not sufficient to allow highly sensitized kidney-transplant candidates to undergo transplantation and, therefore, was not an effective desensitization method.
Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Transplantation Direct. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.