Belatacept conversion in African American kidney transplant recipients with severe renal dysfunction

OBJECTIVES: Conversion from calcineurin inhibitor–based maintenance immunosuppression to belatacept in kidney transplant recipients has been demonstrated to improve renal function while maintaining efficacy against rejection. However, conversion studies to date have excluded patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate < 35 mL/min/1.73 m(2). METHODS: We describe two patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2) who underwent conversion from maintenance calcineurin inhibitor to belatacept. RESULTS: Both patients experienced improvement in renal function following conversion. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that patients with more severe degrees of allograft impairment may benefit from conversion of maintenance calcineurin inhibitor to belatacept-based immunosuppression. Larger, randomized studies are warranted to evaluate the impact of such an approach.