Cytokine Adsorption in Lung Transplantation

Lung transplantation (LTx) remains the gold standard for treating patients with irreversible end-stage pulmonary disease. Of the major organs transplanted, survival in LTx recipients remains the lowest (mean 5 years). Despite improvements, primary graft dysfunction (PGD), as defined by respiratory insufficiency and edema up to 72 hours post LTx, remains the leading cause of early mortality and contributes to the development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) which is the leading cause of late mortality (2). PGD develops within the first 72 hours after LTx. The development of CLAD increases quickly with cumulative incidence of 40-80 % within the first 3-5 years. There is a general lack of efficient treatments for PGD and CLAD. Prevention of PGD is therefore of crucial importance and has a direct impact on survival. The present study is a randomized controlled pilot study which aims to compare patients undergoing LTx with and without the utilization of cytokine adsorption.

Early intolerance to the newly transplanted lung starts at the time of transplantation and results in PGD driven by an intense inflammatory response. Cytokines play a critical role as signaling molecules that initiate, amplify, and maintain inflammatory responses both locally and systemically. The use of cytokine filtration devices to target middle- and low-molecular weight molecules has been shown to reduce levels of a diverse number of cytokines. These results have been demonstrated in the in vitro reduction of pathogen-associated molecular pattern molecules (PAMPS) and damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPS) as well as in in vivo studies involving orthotopic heart transplantation and kidney transplantation. Cytokine adsorption has been used successfully in clinical applications to both heart and kidney transplantation. The present study is a randomized controlled pilot study which aims to collect preliminary data on the efficacy of a medical device through the comparison of patients undergoing LTx with and without cytokine adsorption.