HTLV-1 infection in solid organ transplant donors and recipients in Spain

Background: HTLV-1 infection is a neglected disease, despite infecting 10–15 million people worldwide and severe illnesses develop in 10% of carriers lifelong. Acknowledging a greater risk for developing HTLV-1 associated illnesses due to immunosuppression, screening is being widely considered in the transplantation setting. Herein, we report the experience with universal HTLV testing of donors and recipients of solid organ transplants in a survey conducted in Spain. Methods: All hospitals belonging to the Spanish HTLV network were invited to participate in the study. Briefly, HTLV antibody screening was performed retrospectively in all specimens collected from solid organ donors and recipients attended since the year 2008. Results: A total of 5751 individuals were tested for HTLV antibodies at 8 sites. Donors represented 2312 (42.2%), of whom 17 (0.3%) were living kidney donors. The remaining 3439 (59.8%) were recipients. Spaniards represented nearly 80%. Overall, 9 individuals (0.16%) were initially reactive for HTLV antibodies. Six were donors and 3 were recipients. Using confirmatory tests, HTLV-1 could be confirmed in only two donors, one Spaniard and another from Colombia. Both kidneys of the Spaniard were inadvertently transplanted. Subacute myelopathy developed within 1 year in one recipient. The second recipient seroconverted for HTLV-1 but the kidney had to be removed soon due to rejection. Immunosuppression was stopped and 3 years later the patient remains in dialysis but otherwise asymptomatic. Conclusion: The rate of HTLV-1 is low but not negligible in donors/recipients of solid organ transplants in Spain. Universal HTLV screening should be recommended in all donor and recipients of solid organ transplantation in Spain. Evidence is overwhelming for very high virus transmission and increased risk along with the rapid development of subacute myelopath

Rapid subacute myelopathy following kidney transplantation from HTLV-1 donors: role of immunosuppresors and failure of antiretrovirals

Two kidney transplant recipients from a single donor became infected with HTLV-1 (human T-lymphotropic virus type 1) in Spain. One developed myelopathy 8 months following surgery despite early prescription of antiretroviral therapy. The allograft was removed from the second recipient at month 8 due to rejection and immunosuppressors discontinued. To date, 3 years later, this patient remains infected but asymptomatic. HTLV-1 infection was recognized retrospectively in the donor, a native Spaniard who had sex partners from endemic regions. Our findings call for a reappraisal of screening policies on donor-recipient organ transplantation. Based on the high risk of disease development and the large flux of persons from HTLV-1 endemic regions, pre-transplant HTLV-1 testing should be mandatory in Spain

CUORE and Beyond: Bolometric Techniques to Explore Inverted Neutrino Mass Hierarchy

The CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te. With 741 kg of TeO2 crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, CUORE will be one of the most competitive neutrinoless double beta decay experiments on the horizon. With five years of live time, CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is 1.6 × 1026 y at 1σ (9.5 × 1025 y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40–100 meV (50–130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary light detector can significantly improve the search sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors to fully explore the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy with 130Te and possibly other double beta decay candidate nuclei

Morbility, clinical data and proteomic analysis of IUGR and AGA newborns at different gestational ages

The data are related to the proteomic analysis of 43 newborns with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and 45 newborns with appropriate weight for gestational age (AGA) carried out by separation via 2DE and analyzed by MS–TOF/TOF. All newborns were separated into three gestational age groups, "Very Preterm" 29–32 weeks, "Moderate Preterm" 33–36 weeks, and, "Term" ≥37weeks. From each newborn, blood was drawn three times from birth to 1 month life. High-abundant serum proteins were depleted, and the minority ones were separated by 2DE and analyzed for significant expression differences. The data reflect analytic and clinic variables analyzed globally and categorized by gestational age in relation to IUGR and the optimization of conditions for 2-DE separation. The data from this study are related to the research article entitled "Alterations of Protein Expression in Serum of Infants with Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Different Gestational Ages" (M.D. Ruis-González, M.D. Cañete, J.L. Gómez-Chaparro, N. Abril, R. Cañete, J. López-Barea, 2015) [1]. The present dataset of serum IUGR newborn proteome can be used as a reference for any study involving intrauterine growth restriction during the first month of life