Posted on February 14, 2019
Source: NIAID
Study Follows Passage of HOPE Act of 2013, Allowing People with HIV to Become Organ Donors
"The first large-scale clinical trial to study liver transplantation between people with HIV has begun at clinical centers across the United States. The HOPE in Action Multicenter Liver Study will determine the safety of this practice by evaluating liver recipients for potential transplant-related and HIV-related complications following surgery. The study is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and follows the 2018 launch of a similar study evaluating kidney transplantation between people with HIV.
While organ transplants between donors and recipients with HIV have been successfully completed in South Africa since 2008, such transplants were illegal in the United States until the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act in 2013. The HOPE Act permits U.S. transplant teams with an approved research protocol to transplant organs from donors with HIV to qualified recipients with HIV and end-stage organ failure, a practice that may shorten the time they have to wait to receive a transplant. The transplantation of organs from donors with HIV to HIV-negative recipients remains illegal in the United States.
Individuals with HIV have a higher risk of end-stage liver and kidney diseases because of damage caused by the virus and by common coinfections and associated comorbidities, such as hepatitis B and C viruses, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Certain antiretroviral treatments also can cause toxicities that damage these organs. "
