Belatacept as salvage maintenance immunosuppression in a liver transplant recipient

Abstract

Belatacept is a novel fusion protein that blocks signal two of T cell activation. Belatacept was approved in 2015 for the prevention of acute rejection in kidney transplant recipients. Results from a 2014 phase II clinical trial in liver transplant recipients was terminated early due to an increased risk of death and graft loss, leading to a black box warning for its use in liver transplant recipients. Here we describe the clinical course of a 55 year old male patient who underwent a liver transplant for cholestatic liver disease. His post-transplant course was complicated by multiple episodes of severe acute cellular rejection as well as multiple complications from maintenance immunosuppression including chronic kidney disease (CKD), steroid-induced diabetes, mycophenolate-associated colitis, and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor-induced lung injury. Belatacept was initiated 5 years post-transplant as a last-line option for maintenance immunosuppression. Six months post-initiation, the patient has had stabilization of his CKD, improvement in lung function, and remains without evidence of acute or chronic rejection.