Publications by authors named "Arturo Blazquez Navarro"
Article Synopsis
- Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) has two types, HHV-6A and HHV-6B, with HHV-6A being more prevalent in kidney transplant patients.
- A study involving 93 patients showed that HHV-6A was found in over half of the participants, while HHV-6B was much less common, and the viral loads for HHV-6A were significantly higher than those of other viruses tested.
- Despite high levels of HHV-6A, no negative impact on kidney function or overall health was observed in patients one year post-transplant.
Background: Mono and combined reactivation of latent viruses occurs frequently under immunosuppressive therapy in kidney transplant patients. Recently, monitoring torque teno virus (TTV) reactivation came more into focus as a potential biomarker for immune status. The surrogate characteristics of TTV reactivation on acute rejection, and the combined reactivation with other latent viruses such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), human BK virus (BKV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and human herpes virus-6A (HHV-6A) on allograft function, are unknown so far.
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- A study was done to see how a medicine called empagliflozin helps patients with heart failure and diabetes.
- It included 50 patients, half got empagliflozin while the other half did not, and they were checked on how they felt and performed after 3 months.
- The patients taking empagliflozin showed significant improvements in their quality of life, ability to walk, and lower levels of a substance in their blood that indicates inflammation.
Article Synopsis
- Scientists studied how different COVID-19 vaccines work against new virus variants, especially the Omicron strain.
- They found that people who got the same type of vaccine multiple times had strong immunity, but there was a bit less protection against Omicron compared to earlier versions of the virus.
- Both types of vaccination (same or different vaccines) created a strong immune response, which can help decide future health guidelines.
Article Synopsis
- - The study examined how various immunosuppressive therapies affect immune responses in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) after receiving two doses of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.
- - Among 92 patients, the first vaccination showed only 37.8% developed neutralizing antibodies, while 94.5% achieved this after the second dose; those on IL-17 inhibitors had the highest antibody levels.
- - Despite differences in treatments, T-cell immunity was similar across therapy types, indicating a generally positive response to vaccination, particularly following the second dose, especially for patients on IL-17 inhibitors.
Article Synopsis
- Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder is a serious condition that arises in transplant patients due to weak T cell responses against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), often exacerbated by immunosuppressive medication.
- The study aimed to analyze T cells and lymphoblastoid cell lines from kidney transplant recipients to better understand their responses to various immunosuppressants, revealing differing impacts on T cell function and proliferation.
- Findings suggest that adjusting immunosuppression—particularly using mTOR inhibitors and reducing certain drugs like calcineurin inhibitors—could enhance antiviral immunity while still preventing organ rejection in patients at risk for EBV-related complications.
Healthcare workers are at substantially increased risk for infection with SARS-CoV-2. Successful vaccination constitutes a crucial prerequisite to protect this group during the pandemic. Since post vaccination antibody monitoring is not standard of care in all healthcare institutions, data on risk factors of impaired vaccine induced immune response are urgently required.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUbiquitous microthromboses in the pulmonary vasculature play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Excess of Willebrand factor (vWf) with intravascular multimer formation was identified as a key driver of this finding. Plasma exchange (PLEX) might be a therapeutic option to restore the disbalance between vWf and ADAMTS13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of The Study: Long-term graft survival rates after renal transplantation are still poor. We aimed to build an early predictor of an established long-term outcomes marker, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) one year post-transplant (eGFR-1y).
Materials And Methods: A large cohort of 376 patients was characterized for a multi-level bio-marker panel including gene expression, cytokines, metabolomics and antibody reactivity profiles.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation is a very common and potentially lethal complication of renal transplantation. However, its risk factors and effects on transplant outcome are not well known. Here, we have analysed a large, multi-centre cohort (N = 512) in which 18.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dialysis and kidney transplant patients are vulnerable populations for COVID-19 related disease and mortality.
Methods: We conducted a prospective study exploring the eight week time course of specific cellular (interferon-γ release assay and flow cytometry) or/and humoral immune responses (ELISA) to SARS-CoV-2 boost vaccination in more than 3100 participants including medical personnel, dialysis patients and kidney transplant recipients using mRNA vaccines BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273.
Results: SARS-CoV-2-vaccination induced seroconversion efficacy in dialysis patients was similar to medical personnel (> 95%), but markedly impaired in kidney transplant recipients (42%).
Background: Recent data demonstrate potentially protective pre-existing T cells reactive against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in samples of healthy blood donors, collected before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Whether pre-existing immunity is also detectable in immunosuppressed patients is currently not known.
Methods: Fifty-seven patients were included in this case-control study.
Background: The ability of transplant (Tx) patients to generate a protective antiviral response under immunosuppression is pivotal in COVID-19 infection. However, analysis of immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is currently lacking.
Methods: Here, we analyzed T cell immunity directed against SARS-CoV-2 spike-, membrane-, and nucleocapsid-protein by flow cytometry and spike-specific neutralizing antibodies in 10 Tx in comparison to 26 nonimmunosuppressed (non-Tx) COVID-19 patients.