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Transplantation 2022 Jun 24. Epub 2022 Jun 24.

Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury is an inevitable event during organ transplantation and represents a primary risk factor for the development of early graft dysfunction in lung, heart, liver, and kidney transplant recipients. Recent studies have implicated recipient neutrophils as key mediators of this process and also have found that early innate immune responses after transplantation can ultimately augment adaptive alloimmunity and affect late graft outcomes. Here, we discuss signaling pathways involved in neutrophil recruitment and activation after ischemia-mediated graft injury in solid organ transplantation with an emphasis on lung allografts, which have been the focus of recent studies. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022 Jun 15;19(12). Epub 2022 Jun 15.

GIS Health & Hazards Lab, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.

Lung transplantation is an increasingly common lifesaving therapy for patients with fatal lung diseases, but this intervention has a critical limitation as median survival after LT is merely 5.5 years. Despite the profound impact of place-based factors on lung health, this has not been rigorously investigated in LT recipients-a vulnerable population due to the lifelong need for daily life-sustaining immunosuppression medications. Read More

Ann Thorac Surg 2022 Jun 20. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.

Heart-lung transplantation is a mature therapy but has perioperative complications such as phrenic nerve dysfunction and mediastinal bleeding. We report our technical modifications to simplify the procedure. Read More

Br J Haematol 2022 Jun 23. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Department of Pathology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

We adjusted haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) apheresis collection from patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) by targeting deep buffy coat collection using medium or low collection preference (CP), and by increasing anticoagulant-citrate-dextrose-solution A dosage. In 43 HSPC collections from plerixafor-mobilized adult patients with SCD, we increased the collection efficiency to 35.79% using medium CP and 82. Read More

Toxins (Basel) 2022 Jun 16;14(6). Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Division of Renal Medicine, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden.

Patients with kidney failure (KF) have a high incidence of cardiovascular (CV) disease, partly driven by insufficient clearance of uremic toxins. Recent investigations have questioned the accepted effects of adverse lipid profile and CV risk in uremic patients. Therefore, we related a panel of uremic toxins previously associated with CV morbidity/mortality to a full lipid profile in a large, tri-national, cross-sectional cohort. Read More

Methods Protoc 2022 Jun 5;5(3). Epub 2022 Jun 5.

Department of Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.

Spine surgery patients with a history of organ transplantation are a complex population due to their unique anesthetic considerations, immunologic profiles, drug interactions, and potential organ dysfunction. It is common for these patients to develop neck/back pain and pathology that warrants surgical intervention. However, there is a relative dearth of literature examining their outcomes and clinical considerations. Read More

JACC Case Rep 2022 Jun 15;4(12):699-703. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Division of Lung Transplant, Department of Transplantation, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

A patient diagnosed with expanded Goldenhar complex with oculoauriculovertebral spectrum complicated with complex pulmonary and congenital heart disease, underwent successful heart-lung transplantation 21 years ago, with excellent functional outcome and good quality of life. Heart-lung transplantation can be an option of care for patients with expanded Goldenhar complex. (). Read More

CJC Open 2022 Jun 15;4(6):520-531. Epub 2022 Feb 15.

Division of Critical Care Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.

Background: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Complications and mortality are higher at lower-volume centres. Most Canadian ECLS institutions are low-volume centres. Read More

J Nephrol 2022 Jun 22. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Klinikstraße 33, 35392, Giessen, Germany.

Am J Transplant 2022 Jun 21. Epub 2022 Jun 21.

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.

Respiratory viral infection (RVI) in lung transplant recipients (LTRs) is a risk for chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). We hypothesize that donor-derived cell-free DNA (%ddcfDNA), at the time of RVI predicts CLAD progression. We followed 39 LTRs with RVI enrolled in the Genomic Research Alliance for Transplantation for 1 year. Read More

Eur Respir J 2022 Jun 21. Epub 2022 Jun 21.

Pediatric Asthma and Cough Centre, Istituti Ospedalieri Bergamaschi, University and Research Hospitals, Bergamo, Italy.

Bronchiectasis is being diagnosed increasingly in children and adolescents. Recurrent respiratory exacerbations are common in children and adolescents with this chronic pulmonary disorder. Respiratory exacerbations are associated with an impaired quality-of-life, poorer long-term clinical outcomes and substantial costs to the family and health systems. Read More

Cardiovasc Res 2022 Jun 21. Epub 2022 Jun 21.

Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin I, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

Aims: The present study aims to characterise the genetic risk architecture of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease, the most common congenital heart defect.

Methods And Results: We carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 2,236 BAV patients and 11,604 controls. This led to the identification of a new risk locus for BAV on chromosome 3q29. Read More

Clin Transplant 2022 Jun 20:e14756. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Cardiology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Background: Post heart-transplant survival has increased, but information is lacking on specific causes of death and life expectancy. We aimed to assess cause-specific loss of life-years compared to the general population, evaluate classification for cause of death after heart transplantation, and assess validity of cause of death data from the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) registry.

Methods: In this single centre study, we included 239 heart recipients transplanted between 1988-2019 in Lund, Sweden (n = 239, 50% of the transplanted population where the cause of death was available). Read More

Stem Cell Res Ther 2022 Jun 17;13(1):253. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

Nankai University School of Medicine, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071, China.

Background: Intravenous administration of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) has an acknowledged competence of cardiac repair, despite a lack of systematic description of the underlying biological mechanisms. The lung, but not the heart, is the main trapped site for intravenously transplanted MSCs, which leaves a spatial gap between intravenously transplanted MSCs and the injured myocardium. How lung-trapped MSCs after intravenous transplantation rejuvenate the injured myocardium remains unknown. Read More

Semin Pediatr Surg 2022 Jun 16;31(3):151179. Epub 2022 May 16.

Heart Institute; Division of Pulmonary Medicine Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH. Electronic address:

Pediatric lung transplantation is a highly specialized treatment option at a select few hospitals caring for children. Advancements in surgical and medical approaches in the care of these children have improved their care with only minimal improvement in outcomes which remain the lowest of all solid organ transplants. A crucial time period in the management of these children is in the perioperative period after performance of the lung transplant. Read More

Kidney Int 2022 Jun 15. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK; Health Data Research UK, University College London, London, UK; Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK; University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased risk of baseline mortality and severe COVID-19, but analyses across CKD stages, and comorbidities are lacking. In prevalent and incident CKD, we investigated comorbidities, baseline risk, COVID-19 incidence, and predicted versus observed one-year excess death. In a national dataset (NHS Digital Trusted Research Environment (NHSD TRE)) for England encompassing 56 million individuals), we conducted a retrospective cohort study (March 2020 to March 2021) for prevalence of comorbidities by incident and prevalent CKD, SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality. Read More

Kidney Int 2022 Jun 15. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reflects kidney function. Progressive eGFR-decline can lead to kidney failure, necessitating dialysis or transplantation. Hundreds of loci from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for eGFR help explain population cross section variability. Read More

Blood 2022 Jun 17. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States.

Individuals with age-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH) are at greater risk for hematologic malignancies and cardiovascular diseases. However, predictive preclinical animal models to recapitulate the spectrum of human CH are lacking. Through error-corrected sequencing of 56 human CH/myeloid malignancy genes we identified natural CH driver mutations in aged rhesus macaques matching genes somatically mutated in human CH, with DNMT3A mutations being the most frequent. Read More

Front Pediatr 2022 31;10:896439. Epub 2022 May 31.

Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Introduction: Metabolomics is an emerging area of research and has the potential to identify clinical biomarkers for predicting or diagnosing cystic fibrosis (CF) pulmonary exacerbations (PEx).

Objective: To identify clinically promising metabolites across different sample sources that can be used to predict or diagnose PEx in CF.

Evidence Review: Searches for original literature were completed through EMBASE, MEDLINE, and all databases on the Web of Science with no restrictions on language or publication date. Read More

J Heart Lung Transplant 2022 May 24. Epub 2022 May 24.

Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Departments of Surgery, Medicine and Physiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Lung transplantation is the most effective therapy for patients with end-stage lung disease. However, concern of donor lung damage and ischemia-reperfusion induced lung injury limits the use of "marginal" donor lungs. Recent transcriptomic studies have demonstrated that the enrichment of gene-clusters related to cell death and inflammation are the most profound signals during ischemia-reperfusion in human lung transplants. Read More

J Heart Lung Transplant 2022 May 24. Epub 2022 May 24.

Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Central Virology Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.

Background: The durability of the immune response following the 3-dose BNT162b2 vaccination is unknown. The complexity of the situation is enhanced by the threat that highly transmissible variants may further accelerate the decline in the protection afforded by mRNA vaccines.

Methods: One hundred and three 3-dose-vaccinated heart transplant recipients were longitudinally assessed for the kinetics of variant-specific neutralization (Cohort 1, n = 60) and SARS-CoV-2-specific-T-cell response (Cohort 2, n = 54) over 6 months. Read More

Eur Radiol 2022 Jun 16. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Radiology Department, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

The importance of lung cancer as a complication of lung transplantation is increasingly recognised. It may become an important survival-limiting factor in lung transplant patients as management of other complications continues to improve and utilisation of extended criteria donors grows. Radiology can play a key role in tackling this issue at multiple stages in the transplantation pathway and follow-up process. Read More

Cureus 2022 May 9;14(5):e24852. Epub 2022 May 9.

Pathology, Hospital Universitario Fundación Favaloro, Buenos Aires, ARG.

We have studied an unvaccinated heart transplant 64-year-old patient admitted for low-grade fever, dry cough, general malaise, and bilateral interstitial infiltrates, after two months of a diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) bilateral pneumonia. A bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial biopsy were performed. Bacterial, mycotic and viral infections were ruled out including repeated reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Read More

Arch Bronconeumol 2021 Aug;57(8):542

Department of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation, University Hospital Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain.

Eur Heart J 2022 Jun;43(23):2165-2169

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.

J Heart Lung Transplant 2022 May 20. Epub 2022 May 20.

Deaprtment of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charliottesville, VA, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address:

Background: Long-term survival of lung transplants lags behind other solid organs due to early onset of a fibrotic form of chronic rejection known as chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). Preventing CLAD is difficult as multiple immunologic and physiologic insults contribute to its development. Targeting fibroblast activation, which is the final common pathway leading to CLAD, offers the opportunity to ameliorate fibrosis irrespective of the initiating insult. Read More

J Heart Lung Transplant 2022 May 20. Epub 2022 May 20.

Toronto Lung Transplant Program, Latner Thoracic Research Laboratories, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Cir, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Cir, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Cir, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Background: Lung transplant recipients experience episodes of immune-mediated acute lung allograft dysfunction (ALAD). ALAD episodes are a risk factor for chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), the major cause of death after lung transplantation. Our objective was to determine key cellular elements in dysfunctional lung allografts, with a focus on macrophages. Read More

J Heart Lung Transplant 2022 May 20. Epub 2022 May 20.

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Electronic address:

Background: Improved predictive models are needed in lung transplantation in the setting of a proposed allocation system that incorporates longer-term post-transplant survival in the United States. Allocation systems require accurate mortality predictions to justly allocate organs.

Methods: Utilizing the United Network for Organ Sharing database (2005-2017), we fit models to predict 1-year mortality based on the Lung Allocation Score (LAS), the Chan, et al, 2019 model, a novel "clinician" model (a priori clinician selection of pre-transplant covariates), and two machine learning models (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator; LASSO and Random Forests) for predicting 1-year and 3-year post-transplant mortality. Read More

Pulm Circ 2022 Apr 7;12(2):e12086. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Cardiology Department AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece.

Whereas younger female patients were diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) in 1980s, it is now frequently encountered in elderly patients with cardiovascular comorbidities (CVCs) associated with increased risk for left heart disease. We present data until November 2019 regarding specific features and clinical outcomes of IPAH population from the Hellenic Pulmonary Hypertension Registry (HOPE). Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of ≥ or <3 CVCs, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, presence of coronary artery disease, or atrial fibrillation. Read More

Cells 2022 Jun 4;11(11). Epub 2022 Jun 4.

Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics Branch, National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes (NHLBI)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-targeted gene therapy provides a one-time cure for various genetic diseases including sickle cell disease (SCD) and β-thalassemia. SCD is caused by a point mutation (20A > T) in the β-globin gene. Since SCD is the most common single-gene disorder, curing SCD is a primary goal in HSC gene therapy. Read More