April 29, 2025
2 min learn
Key takeaways:
- Along with antibody-mediated rejection, the chances for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome went up with vs. with out GLP-1 use.
- Researchers reported decreased odds amongst GLP-1 customers when evaluating mortality.
The probability for antibody-mediated rejection in lung transplant recipients was heightened with vs. with out GLP-1 receptor agonist use, whereas the chances for mortality dropped with use, in keeping with a poster presentation.
These knowledge had been introduced on the 2025 Worldwide Society for Coronary heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Assembly.
“The findings recommend that whereas GLP-1 receptor agonists (RAs) might supply survival advantages, their use might include an elevated danger of antibody-mediated rejection and power lung allograft dysfunction,” Zehra Dhanani, MD, lung transplant fellow at Temple College Hospital, informed Healio. “This highlights the necessity for cautious implementation and additional analysis to find out the most secure timing and affected person choice.”
On this retrospective evaluation, Dhanani and colleagues analyzed 301 sufferers (imply age, 65 years; 32.2% girls; 84.7% white; 19.6% with diabetes) who acquired a lung transplant between 2016 and 2022 to find out how GLP-1 RA use inside 2 years of transplantation vs. no use impacts the chances for outcomes following transplantation.
Of the overall cohort, 34 had GLP-1 RA use within the outlined timeframe (imply time to initiation, 318 days), with 23 sufferers prescribed dulaglutide and 11 prescribed semaglutide, in keeping with the poster.
After adjusting for elements related to power lung allograft dysfunction, researchers discovered a considerably elevated probability for antibody-mediated rejection amongst GLP-1 RA customers.
The probability for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome was additionally heightened with vs. with out GLP-1 RA use however didn’t attain significance, in keeping with the poster.
In distinction to the above findings, researchers reported decreased odds amongst sufferers utilizing GLP-1 RAs when evaluating mortality. Notably, this discovering was not vital.
“We noticed that GLP-1 RA use exhibits a sign towards decreased mortality however can be related to elevated antibody-mediated rejection and power lung allograft dysfunction,” Dhanani informed Healio.
“This means that whereas GLP-1 RAs could also be helpful, they need to be used cautiously and doubtlessly prevented within the early post-transplant interval to stop aspiration occasions,” she continued.
Trying forward, Dhanani stated analysis on this space ought to embody extra members and be designed as a potential research.
“Moreover, incorporating bronchoscopic fluid testing for gastric contents, akin to pepsin and bile acids, would assist decide whether or not GLP-1 RA use really contributes to aspiration occasions,” Dhanani informed Healio.
For extra data:
Zehra Dhanani, MD, might be reached at zehra.dhanani@tuhs.temple.edu.
