From the Journals

Allergy, eczema common after pediatric solid organ transplantation

Publish date: May 1, 2018
By
Amy Karon

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Track atopy, allergy in pediatric transplantation

The study is one of several to highlight the occurrence of atopy and allergy following solid organ transplantation in children, Helen M. Evans, MBChB, wrote in an editorial accompanying the report by Marcus et al.

This report differed because it studied the differences in rates of atopy and allergy between transplanted solid organ groups. These occurred in 41% and 40% of liver and heart recipients, respectively, but in only 4% of kidney recipients. Atopy or allergy developed in 57% of multivisceral transplant patients, but the number of patients was very small (n = 7). The majority of the conditions developed within 1 year of transplantation.

The recent spike in these reports could signify better recognition of the problem or “the widespread switch of primary immunosuppression from cyclosporine to tacrolimus over the last few decades,” wrote Dr. Evans.

Most of these reports have been single-center retrospective studies, which are subject to inconsistent case definitions and recall bias, she noted. “The time is right for well-conducted multicenter prospective studies to better inform the true extent of these conditions after solid organ transplantation.”

In the meantime, transplantation centers should routinely track de novo eczema, allergy, and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease in children being assessed for solid organ transplantation, and should take “rigorous” personal and family histories, said Dr. Evans. Ultimately, this work will help “minimize the risk of children developing these conditions” and “effectively treat them in the setting of immunosuppression after transplantation.”

Dr. Evans is a pediatric gastroenterologist at Starship Child Health in Aukland, New Zealand. She reported having no conflicts of interest. These comments summarize her editorial ( J Pediatr. 2018;196:10-11 ).


 

FROM JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS

A total of 34% of children who underwent solid organ transplantation subsequently developed eczema, food allergy, rhinitis, eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease, or asthma, according to the results of a single-center retrospective cohort study.

Another 6.6% of patients developed autoimmunity, usually autoimmune cytopenia, inflammatory bowel disease, or vasculitis, wrote Nufar Marcus, MD, of the University of Toronto, and her associates.

Posttransplant allergy, autoimmunity, and immune-mediated disorders (PTAA) likely share a common pathogenesis “and may represent a unique state of post-transplant immune-dysregulation,” they wrote. The report was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The study included 273 children who underwent solid organ transplantation and were followed for a median 3.6 years (range, 1.7-6.3 years). None had immune-mediated conditions or allergies diagnosed at baseline. Posttransplantation allergies most commonly included eczema (51%), asthma (32%), food allergy (25%, including 5% with associated anaphylaxis), rhinitis (17%), and eosinophilic esophagitis, gastritis, or enteritis (13%).

atopic dermatitis on the neck aniaostudio/Thinkstock.com
Median age at transplantation was 2.9 years (range, 0.7-10.3 years) and 59% of patients were male. Procedures usually involved liver (111) or heart (103) transplantation, while 52 patients underwent kidney transplantation and 7 underwent multivisceral transplantation. Heart transplantation patients were significantly more likely to develop asthma and autoimmunity, while liver transplantation patients had a significantly greater incidence of food allergies and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease. “Recipients of multivisceral transplantation [also] had a high prevalence of autoimmunity [43%],” the researchers wrote.

Although only 31% of patients had information available on family history of allergy, those with a positive family history of allergy had a fivefold greater odds of posttransplantation PTAA, compared with other patients. Other risk factors for PTAA included female sex, young age at transplantation, eosinophilia, and a positive test for Epstein-Barr virus after transplantation, Dr. Marcus and associates said.

“The association of blood eosinophilia and PTAA reached statistical significance only when the transplant recipient was at least 6 months of age, demonstrating the nonspecific nature of abnormally high eosinophil counts during the first months of life,” they noted. The longer patients had eosinophilia after transplantation, the more likely they were to develop PTAA, “suggest[ing] a potential detrimental effect of prolonged activation of the eosinophilic-associated immune arms.”

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