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World J Transplant. Dec 24, 2016; 6(4): 658-664
Published online Dec 24, 2016. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v6.i4.658
More than skin deep? Potential nicotinamide treatment applications in chronic kidney transplant recipients
Andrew G Bostom, Basma Merhi, Joanna Walker, Leslie Robinson-Bostom
Andrew G Bostom, Division of Hypertension and Kidney Diseases, Department of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, United States
Basma Merhi, Division of Hypertension and Kidney Diseases, Department of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital and Organ Transplantation, Providence, RI 02903, United States
Joanna Walker, Leslie Robinson-Bostom, Department of Dermatology, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, United States
Author contributions: Bostom AG did the preponderance of the writing, and prepared Figures 2 and 3; Merhi B reviewed all the descriptive data provided, and made editorial suggestions; Walker J reviewed the dermatological data presented, and made editorial suggestions; Robinson-Bostom L provided Figure 1, reviewed the dermatological data presented, and made editorial suggestions.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest for any of the authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Andrew G Bostom, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine, Research Physician, Division of Hypertension and Kidney Diseases, Department of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI 02903, United States. abostom@cox.net
Telephone: +1-401-4446844 Fax: +1-401-6494061
Received: July 11, 2016
Peer-review started: July 11, 2016
First decision: September 26, 2016
Revised: October 3, 2016
Accepted: November 1, 2016
Article in press: November 1, 2016
Published online: December 24, 2016
Processing time: 156 Days and 8.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Our unique review describes promising evidence that oral nicotinamide may have dual therapeutic clinical applications in chronic kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). First, nicotinamide, via its inhibition of sirtuin-mediated enzymatic pathways, may reduce the rate of KTR non-melanoma skin cancers. Second, nicotinamide’s hypophosphatemic effect could lower the rate of cardiorenal outcomes in KTRs. These hypothesized benefits warrant further study in randomized, placebo-controlled trials of nicotinamide treatment with both intermediate, and eventually, hard clinical outcomes.