CareersPipelineCollaboration RareInnovation SVGOMG The best SVG optimizer and minifier Open SVG Paste markup Demo Contribute SVGOMG provides you several options to clean and compress your SVG files. Clean up, remove, merge, minify. Upload or copy the source of your SVG to get started! 947 bytes → 267 bytes 28.19% Finance peopleAdvance treatment Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to search
HNSA   ( ,  %) SEK
Quotes are delayed 15 minutes

Cris Ann’s Story: fighting for a chance to live

When Cris Ann was told she had kidney disease in 2016, she proactively registered on the kidney transplant waiting list, hoping to avoid dialysis like her brother. Soon after she learned she is one of the 10-15%(1) of kidney transplant patients in the U.S. who are highly sensitized, making it virtually impossible to find a compatible donor kidney. This is her story.

Cris Ann is a nurse, a mother of four, and a highly sensitized kidney transplant patient. Since 2019 she has been desperately trying to find a donor kidney that would allow her to live her life to the fullest.

Watching both of her brothers experience kidney failure and receive kidney transplants was reason enough for Cris Ann to check her own kidney health. “Just the nurse in me started investigating,” she explained.

That’s when she discovered that although she had no symptoms and felt fine, 60% of her kidney function was lost. As her kidney function continued to deteriorate, Cris Ann applied for a kidney transplant, only to be told that she is highly sensitized with a cPRA (panel reactive antibody) of 100%. 

“They told me that I was highly sensitized, which I didn't really understand, and that it's going to be really hard for me to find a kidney, because I’m sensitized against 100% of the population here in the United States. Which gives me almost a zero chance of ever getting a transplant because I have such high antibodies.”


People are considered highly sensitized (often measured as a cPRA percentage) when they have high levels of pre-formed donor specific antibodies (DSAs).2,3 DSAs are considered a barrier to kidney transplantation2-5 as they can trigger an immune response against a transplanted organ causing tissue damage and potentially transplant rejection.3,4 Blood transfusions, previous organ transplants, and pregnancies are among the leading factors contributing to sensitization.2,3,5,6

Despite improvements in transplantation technique and changes to organ allocation resulting in an increase in organ transplantation,7,8 people considered highly sensitized face extended, and often indefinite, time on the transplant waiting list due to the complexity of their immunological profile which makes the identification of a suitable donor organ significantly more difficult.1,5,6,9

There is an urgent need to improve access to care, including transplantation, for highly sensitized patients. Receiving a kidney transplant is life-changing, and the treatment of choice for end stage kidney disease (ESKD) because it offers a better quality of life at lower societal cost compared to chronic treatment such as dialysis.10

Cris Ann depends on dialysis to carry out the work her kidneys are not able to perform anymore. People with ESKD can spend several hours receiving dialysis multiple times per week, with significant impact on their length and quality of life.11-13

“I'm on my sixth year of dialysis, and the odds for a person at six years is 50% mortality,” said Cris Ann. “It's just hard. And, I want to have a chance to live. I want options for me and all the other patients like me that are highly sensitized and are going to be able to live their life, not be trapped in dialysis centers for the rest of their life. I'm desperate. I want to change.”

Related articles

Collaboration across the continuum of care to improve equity for highly sensitized people in kidney transplantation

Read the article

Acknowledging Disparities Between Sexes in Kidney Transplantation

Read the article


No matter the difficulties, Cris Ann has a strong determination and hope that she will eventually find a solution allowing her to receive a kidney transplant.

“I want to live a healthy life. My goal is to go back and become a nurse again. Go back to the hospital, work or help patients some way including by advocating and being an ambassador for kidney patients. I've been introduced to a world that I had no idea about,” shared Cris Ann.

As a committed member of the transplant community, Hansa Biopharma is honored to be able to share Cris Ann’s story with others and to continue to advocate for equitable access to care for highly sensitized kidney transplant patients.

References

  1. Jordan SC, et al. Imlifidase Desensitization in Crossmatch-positive, Highly Sensitized Kidney Transplant Recipients: Results of an International Phase 2 Trial (Highdes). Transplantation. 2021 Aug 1;105(8):1808-1817. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000003496.
  2. Mamode N, et al. European Guideline for the Management of Kidney Transplant Patients With HLA Antibodies: By the European Society for Organ Transplantation Working Group. Transpl Int. 2022 Aug 10;35:10511. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36033645/
  3. Eurostam Report (A Europe-wide strategy to enhance transplantation of highly sensitized patients on the basis of acceptable HLA mismatches.) Available at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/305385/reporting.
  4. Lonze BE, et al. IdeS (Imlifidase): A Novel Agent That Cleaves Human IgG and Permits Successful Kidney Transplantation Across High-strength Donor-specific Antibody. Ann Surg. 2018 Sep;268(3):488-496. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002924. PMID: 30004918.
  5. Alelign T, Ahmed MM, Bobosha K, Tadesse Y, Howe R, Petros B. Kidney Transplantation: The Challenge of Human Leukocyte Antigen and Its Therapeutic Strategies. J Immunol Res. 2018 Mar 5;2018:5986740. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5859822/
  6. Heidt S, et al. Highly Sensitized Patients are Well Serves by Recieving a Compatible Organ Offer Based on Acceptable Mismatches. Front Immunol. 2021;12:687254. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34248971/
  7. Thongprayoon C, et al. Progress and Recent Advances in Solid Organ Transplantation. J Clin Med. 2022 Apr 11;11(8):2112. doi: 10.3390/jcm11082112. PMID: 35456205; PMCID: PMC9031939.
  8. Bouwman, Renée, et al. "Study on the uptake and impact of the EU Action Plan on Organ Donation and Transplantation (2009-2015) in the EU Member States." European Commission (2017).
  9. ESOT Transplantation Learning Journey Highlights 15-17 November 2020-pg 25. Available at https://esot.org/scientific-highlights-transplantation-learning-journey-tlj-2-0/ Last accessed: May 2025.
  10. Axelrod DA, et al. An economic assessment of contemporary kidney transplant practice. Am J Transplant. 2018 May;18(5):1168-1176. doi: 10.1111/ajt.14702. Epub 2018 Mar 31. PMID: 29451350.
  11. Canaud B, Kooman JP, Selby NM, Taal MW, Francis S, Maierhofer A, Kopperschmidt P, Collins A, Kotanko P. Dialysis-Induced Cardiovascular and Multiorgan Morbidity. Kidney Int Rep. 2020 Sep 9;5(11):1856-1869. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33163709/
  12. Redfield RR, et al. The mode of sensitization and its influence on allograft outcomes in highly sensitized kidney transplant recipients. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2016 Oct;31(10):1746-53. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfw099. Epub 2016 Jul 6. PMID: 27387475.
  13. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Hemodialysis. Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/hemodialysis.  Last accessed: May 2025.