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Background and Objectives: Hemodialysis patients (HD) and kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) have been heavily impacted by COVID-19, showing increased risk of infection, worse clinical outcomes, and higher mortality rates than the general population. Although mass vaccination remains the most successful measure in counteracting the pandemic, less evidence is available on vaccine effectiveness in immunodepressed subjects previously infected and recovered from COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This study aimed at investigating the ability to develop an adequate antibody response after vaccination in a 2-dose series against SARS-CoV-2 in HD patients and KTR that was administered after laboratory and clinical recovery from COVID-19. Results: Comparing SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG levels measured before and after 2 doses of mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 vaccine, Comirnaty, Pfizer–BioNTech or mRNA-1273 vaccine, Spikevax, Moderna), highly significant increases of antibody titers were observed. The antibody peak level was reached at 3 months following second dose administration, regardless of the underlying cause of immune depression and the time of pre-vaccine serology assessment after negativization. Conclusions: Our data indicate that HD patients and KTR exhibit a satisfying antibody response to a 2-dose series of mRNA vaccine, even in cases when infection-induced humoral immunity was poor or rapidly fading. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of booster doses in conferring effective and durable protection in weak patient categories.

This study investigated the impact of the fourth COVID-19 pandemic wave on dialysis patients of Romagna territory, assessing the associations of vaccination status with infection risk, clinical severity and mortality. From November 2021 to February 2022, an epidemiological search was conducted on 829 patients under dialysis treatment for at least one month. The data were then analyzed with reference to the general population of the same area. A temporal comparison was also carried out with the previous pandemic waves (from March 2020 to October 2021). The epidemiological evolution over time in the dialysis population and in Romagna citizens replicated the global trend, as the peak of the fourth wave corresponded to the time of maximum diffusion of omicron variant (B.1.1.529). Of 771 prevalent dialysis patients at the beginning of the study, 109 (14.1%) contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection during the 4-month observation period. Vaccine adherence in the dialysis population of the reference area was above 95%. Compared to fully or partially vaccinated subjects, the unvaccinated ones showed a significantly higher proportion of infections (12.5% vs. 27.0% p = 0.0341), a more frequent need for hospitalization (22.2% vs. 50.0%) and a 3.3-fold increased mortality risk. These findings confirm the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in keeping infectious risk under control and ameliorating clinical outcomes in immunocompromised patients.

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) is an hormone family whose use has considerably increased among body-builders during the last decades. The AAS abuse, especially associated with other drugs or nutritional supplements and protein loads, may cause a variety of pathologies to several organs with a mechanism related to dosage, timing and substance. The kidney is the main metabolizer of these drugs and it can be acutely or chronically damaged with ESKD. The literature reports some cases of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in body-builders who abused of AAS. However, the link is not well understood and limited to some case-studies. In this paper, we report the case of a young body-builder who developed a FSGS collapsing variant with ESKD after prolonged abuse of AAS and a strongly hyperproteic diet and other dietary supplements. The patient underwent a genetic test because of the rapid and irreversibile onset of ESKD. The test showed a gene mutation of ACTN4, predisposing and causal of some genetic forms of FSGS. It was a very complex case, caused by several factors. The mutant protein of ACTN4 gene makes most vulnerable the cytoskeleton of the podocytes to external disturbances. That would explain why in those patients where the mutation has occurred, only those patients subject to "unfavorable environmental conditions", like the abuse of AAS, can develop a disease.