The effect of anti‐thymocyte globulin and everolimus on the kinetics of cytomegalovirus viral load in seropositive kidney transplant recipients without prophylaxis

Background The use of mTOR inhibitors is associated with lower incidence of CMV infections but its effect on viral load has not been investigated. Aims, Materials and Methods This post‐hoc analysis included data from 273 CMV seropositive kidney transplant recipients randomized to receive anti‐thymocyte globulin and everolimus (rAGT/TAC/EVR, n = 81), basiliximab and everolimus (BAS/TAC/EVR, n = 97) or basiliximab and mycophenolate (BAS/TAC/MPS, n = 95). All patients received tacrolimus (TAC) and corticosteroids. Preemptive CMV therapy based on weekly pp65 antigenemia test was used during the first 6 months. Blinded weekly CMV DNAemia was compared among the groups. Results The proportion of patients with undetectable CMV DNAemia (23.4% vs 56.7% vs 22.1%, P