Immunized Patients Face Reduced Access to Transplantation in the Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System

Background: The presence of donor-specific HLA antibodies before transplantation is associated with poor transplantation outcomes. Unacceptable antigens can be assigned for Eurotransplant kidney transplant candidates to prevent kidney offers against which the candidate has developed clinically relevant HLA antibodies. This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess to what degree unacceptable antigens affect access to transplantation in the Eurotransplant Kidney Allocation System (ETKAS).

Methods: Candidates who underwent kidney-only transplantation between 2016 and 2020 were included (n = 19 240). Cox regression was used to quantify the relationship between the relative transplantation rate and virtual panel-reactive antibodies (vPRAs), which is the percentage of the donor pool with unacceptable antigens. Models used accrued dialysis time as the timescale; were stratified by country and blood group of patient and were adjusted for nontransplantable status, patient age, sex, history of kidney transplantations, and prevalence of 0 HLA-DR-mismatched donors.

Results: Transplantation rates were 23% lower for vPRA 0.1% to 50%, 51% lower for vPRA 75% to 85%, and decreased rapidly for vPRA of >85%. Prior studies showed significantly lower ETKAS transplantation rates only for highly sensitized patients (vPRA of >85%). The inverse relationship between transplantation rate and vPRA is independent of Eurotransplant country, listing time, and 0 HLA-DR-mismatched donor availability. Results were similar when quantifying the relationship between vPRA and attainment of a sufficiently high rank for an ETKAS offer, suggesting lower transplantation rates for immunized patients are due to current ETKAS allocation.

Conclusions: Immunized patients face lower transplantation rates across Eurotransplant. The current ETKAS allocation mechanism inadequately compensates immunized patients for reduced access to transplantation.