UF expert to open National Institutes of Health workshop on organ transplant disease

A University of Florida College of Medicine pediatrician will give the opening presentation at a National Institutes of Health workshop on Sept. 16 in Bethesda, Md.

Vikas Dharnidharka, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatric nephrology, will discuss risk factors for post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, a semi-malignant condition that can occur after organ transplants. The disease is caused by a virus taking advantage of the body’s weakened immune system, which is typically suppressed during transplants to facilitate acceptance of the new organ. Children are especially susceptible.

“If you’ve never been exposed to the virus, which most young children haven’t, then getting it with a transplanted organ makes the risks of getting the malignancy very high,” Dharnidharka said. “It can occur as a complication in all transplant patients ― it’s not limited to any one organ like the kidney or liver. And it’s not very easy to treat.”