Rejection Assessment and Monitoring on the March JHLT: The Podcast
On the March episode of JHLT: The Podcast, the Digital Media Editors explore two studies from the March issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation featuring methodologies for diagnosing and assessing organ rejection - one in lung transplantation, the other in heart. The episode is hosted by Digital Media Editor Marty C. Tam, MD, of the University of Michigan.
The
first segment in the episode features a study presented by first author Francesca Lunardi, MD, ScD, PhD and senior author Fiorella Calabrese, MD, both from the University of Padova in Italy: “Assessing the role of phosphorylated S6 ribosomal protein in the pathological diagnosis of pulmonary antibody-mediated rejection." In the conversation, Drs. Calabrese and Lunardi share
what drew them to investigate this protein in cases of suspected AMR. The discussion explores the main challenges in the current diagnostic algorithm for AMR in lung transplantation, and why this protein expression may be a future mainstay in
evaluating patients with this condition.
Next,
the Digital Media Editors speak to senior author Benjamin Mackie, MD, on the study “Relationship between blood and tissue-based rejection-related transcripts in heart transplantation.”
This retrospective, observational study sampled heart transplant recipients at their center who had endomyocardial biopsies with molecular microscope and blood gene expression profiling within four weeks of each other, and hypothesized that the
increased expression of ITGA4 and ROBO4 in AMR represents mechanistic crosstalk between immune cells and myocardial inflammation. In the conversation, Dr. Mackie shares the current state of rejection assessment, including some of these new, non-invasive
modalities, and how the relation between these diagnostic methods may inform clinical practice.
Don’t already get the Journal and want to read along? Join the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation at www.ishlt.org for a free subscription, or subscribe today at www.jhltonline.org.