Induction therapy of basiliximab versus antithymocyte globulin in renal allograft: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of basiliximab versus antithymocyte globulin for induction therapy in renal allograft.

METHODS: Medline (PubMed), Embase, Ovid, Cochrane, and the Chinese Biomedical Literature databases were searched to identify prospective randomized controlled trials that compared basiliximab with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) for induction therapy in renal transplantation. RevMan 5.1 software and Stat Manager V4.1 software were used for the meta-analysis.

RESULTS: Eight RCTs were included, including a total of 1153 patients. Of these, 547 (47%) had received basiliximab, and 606 (53%) had received ATG. The pooled results revealed that the basiliximab had a lower rate of neoplasm compared with ATG [odds ratio (OR) 0.26; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08-0.78; P = 0.02]. There were no significant differences between the two drugs regarding 1-year acute rejection rate (OR 1.32; 95% CI 0.93-1.87; P = 0.13), 1-year graft survival rate (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.45-1.18; P = 0.20), 1-year patient survival rate (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.27-1.02; P = 0.06), 1-year infection rate (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.48-1.68; P = 0.73).

CONCLUSION: Induction therapy of basiliximab has similar short-time effects on the recipients in renal transplantation compared with that of ATG. However, regarding the long-term effect, as represented by the rate of neoplasm, basiliximab has a significant advantage.