Publications by authors named "Byoung Kwon"

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive interstitial lung disease of unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental and occupational risk factors of IPF.

Methods: This hospital-based, case-control study included 206 patients with IPF selected from the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Interstitial Lung Disease registry and 167 controls without lung disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) is a type of tuberculosis that can cause fluid build-up in the lungs, and it's common in areas where TB is widespread.
  • Researchers wanted to see if certain immune cells, called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), can help tell the difference between TPE and another similar condition called parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE).
  • They found that MDSCs were more common in cases of PPE, suggesting that measuring these cells can help doctors make better diagnoses between the two conditions.
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Background: Bacterial colonization is an essential aspect of bronchiectasis. Although Haemophilus influenzae is a frequent colonizer in some regions, its clinical impacts are poorly understood. This study aimed to elucidate the impact of H.

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Article Synopsis
  • A deep learning-based prognostic model (DLPM) was developed and validated to predict survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) using chest radiographs from multiple datasets.
  • The model demonstrated equal or superior performance compared to traditional forced vital capacity (FVC) measurements in predicting 3-year survival rates across different external test cohorts.
  • The modified gender-age-physiology index (GAP-CR), which incorporates the DLPM, also outperformed the original GAP index in predicting survival in most test cohorts, highlighting the model's clinical relevance.
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The interaction between regulatory T (Treg) cells and self-reactive T cells is a crucial mechanism for maintaining immune tolerance. In this study, we investigated the cross-activation of Treg cells by self-antigens and its impact on self-reactive CD8 T cell responses, with a focus on the P53 signaling pathway. We discovered that major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I-restricted self-peptides not only activated CD8 T cells but also induced the delayed proliferation of Treg cells.

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Background Aims: Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is an attractive target for anti-cancer therapies. We developed an effective method for generating hTERT-specific CD8 T cells (hTERT-induced natural T cells [TERTiNTs]) using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with solid cancers and investigated their feasibility and safety.

Methods: This was a single-center phase 1 trial using a 3 + 3 dose escalation design to evaluate six dose levels of TERTiNTs.

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Rifampicin is an important agent for tuberculosis treatment; however, it is often discontinued because of adverse reactions. The treatment regimen then can be administered as that for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis, which can be toxic. We retrospectively reviewed 114 patients with drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis who discontinued rifampicin due to adverse reactions during an 18 year period at a tertiary referral center, of which 92 (80.

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A uniform prognostic marker is needed for nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) due to the diverse clinical course. We aimed to seek the utility of the BACES score, originally derived to predict all-cause mortality, for various outcomes. To calculate the BACES score, one point was given for each of the following factors: body mass index < 18.

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Background: There is little information on the optimal storage conditions for recovery of nontuberculous spp. (NTM) from refrigerated sputum.

Objectives: We investigated the storage duration that could increase the culture-positive rate of NTM isolates.

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Introduction: Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) and radial endobronchial ultrasound (R-EBUS) are advanced imaging-guided bronchoscopy techniques for diagnosing pulmonary lesions. This study aimed to determine the comparative diagnostic yield of sole ENB and R-EBUS under moderate sedation.

Methods: We investigated 288 patients who underwent sole ENB (n=157) or sole R-EBUS (n=131) under moderate sedation for pulmonary lesion biopsy between January 2017 and April 2022.

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Higher blood monocyte counts are related to worse survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, studies evaluating the association between blood monocyte counts and clinical outcomes of idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (iNSIP) are lacking. We evaluated the impact of monocyte counts on iNSIP prognosis.

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Introduction: Although PD-1/L1 mAb has demonstrated clinical benefits in certain cancer types, low response rate and resistance remain the main challenges for the application of these immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). 4-1BB is a co-stimulator molecule expressed in T cells, which could enhance T cell proliferation and activation. Herein, the synergetic antitumor effect and underlying mechanism of 4-1BB agonist combined with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade were determined in B-cell lymphoma (BCL).

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Dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is usually prescribed for chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. However, some patients may develop an intolerance to this drug over the years. Among various toxicities related to dasatinib, dasatinib-associated interstitial pneumonitis is not reported frequently in the literature yet.

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There have been limited studies on the association between prognosis and body weight change in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This single-center retrospective observational study evaluated the impact of weight loss on outcomes in Korean patients with IPF receiving pirfenidone at a tertiary medical institution. We analyzed 215 IPF patients prescribed pirfenidone from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2019.

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The clinical implication of using serum tumor markers in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) is inconclusive. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the data of 1176 subjects (294 with ILDs and 882 healthy controls). Eligible patients were who had at least one or more available tumor marker results [carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9, CA 125, and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)] with no evidence of malignancies or other benign diseases that could be related to the increasing concentration of the values.

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Background: Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) is an emerging advanced imaging-guided bronchoscopy technique for diagnosing peripheral lung lesions. However, the selection strategy for the optimal biopsy device and whether adopting a multi-tool strategy increases the diagnostic yield remains undetermined. The CONFIDENT-ENB trial (NCT05110131) is a prospective randomized study on ENB, performed in a least-invasive setting.

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Background: The standard treatment regimen for drug-sensitive tuberculosis (TB), comprising four companion drugs, requires a minimum duration of 6 months, and this lengthy treatment leads to poor adherence and increased toxicity. To improve rates of adherence, reduce adverse events, and lower costs, a simplified and shortened treatment regimen is warranted.

Methods: This study is a multicenter, open-label randomized clinical trial of non-inferiority design that compares a new regimen with the conventional regimen for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB.

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Background: Tumor spread through airspaces (STAS) is a recently determined pathologic phenomenon of lung cancer with significant prognostic impact. This study aimed to analyze the unexplored correlation between preoperative biopsy procedure and a higher risk of STAS and its impact on STAS-related outcomes in resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Research Question: Does preoperative biopsy procedure affect the risk of STAS and STAS-related outcomes in surgically treated stage I NSCLC?

Study Design And Methods: We examined 2,169 patients who underwent surgery for pathologic stage I NSCLC from January 2011 through December 2019 at the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, a tertiary center in South Korea.

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Background: Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) is an emerging technique for diagnosing pulmonary lesions. However, limited data is available on its sole utility under a least invasive setting without general anesthesia. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and safety of sole ENB under moderate sedation for diagnosing pulmonary lesions suspicious for lung cancer and to determine clinical factors associated with a better diagnostic yield.

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Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Moreover, acute exacerbation (AE) is a devastating complication of RA plus ILD. However, few data on AE in RA-associated ILD are available.

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Background: Although low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening is known to be effective for the detection of lung cancers localized in peripheral lung regions at a curable stage, limited data is available regarding the characteristics and outcomes of central lung cancers diagnosed in a screening cohort. This study aimed to determine whether LDCT screening could effectively detect central lung cancers at an early stage and offer survival benefits.

Methods: We analyzed 52,615 adults who underwent lung cancer screening with LDCT between May 2003 and Dec 2019 at a tertiary center in South Korea.

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Background: The progressive fibrosing (PF) phenotype of interstitial lung disease (ILD) is characterised by worsening respiratory symptoms, lung function, and extent of fibrosis on high-resolution computed tomography. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and clinical outcomes of PF-ILD in a real-world cohort and assess the prognostic significance of the PF-ILD diagnostic criteria.

Methods: Clinical data of patients with fibrosing ILD other than idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) consecutively diagnosed at a single centre were retrospectively reviewed.

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Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) requires lymphodepletion preconditioning to eliminate immune-suppressive elements and enable efficient engraftment of adoptively transferred tumor-reactive T cells. As anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody depletes CD4 immune-suppressive cells, the combination of anti-CD4 treatment and ACT has synergistic potential in cancer therapy. Here, we demonstrate a post-ACT conditioning regimen that involves transient anti-CD4 treatment (CD4).

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