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Canakinumab treatment in renal transplant recipients with familial Mediterranean fever

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Abstract

Colchicine is the first-line treatment for familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), preventing both inflammatory attacks as well as the development of amyloidosis in the majority of the patients. However approximately 5–10% of patients are colchicine resistant/intolerant. Side effects of colchicine are more prominent in renal transplant recipients due to interaction with immunosuppressive drugs. Anti-interleukin (IL)-1 drugs (anakinra, canakinumab and rilonacept) have emerged as the most promising drugs in the treatment of colchicine-resistant and/or intolerant FMF. There are no existing reports in the literature on canakinumab use in renal transplant recipients with FMF. We report here the efficacy and safety of canakinumab in three renal transplant recipients who achieved a complete clinical response with elimination of attacks and normalization of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels without significant side effects. This highlights the advantage of use of this drug in this setting, which has a better tolerability compared to anakinra.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nephrology Department, Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey

    Tolga Yildirim, Rahmi Yilmaz, Muge Uzerk Kibar & Yunus Erdem

Authors
  1. Tolga Yildirim
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  2. Rahmi Yilmaz
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  3. Muge Uzerk Kibar
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  4. Yunus Erdem
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tolga Yildirim.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yildirim, T., Yilmaz, R., Uzerk Kibar, M. et al. Canakinumab treatment in renal transplant recipients with familial Mediterranean fever. J Nephrol 31, 453–455 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40620-018-0475-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40620-018-0475-5

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