Publications by authors named "Elizabeth Kang"

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a disorder of immunity characterized by phagocyte dysfunction. Mold infections in patients with CGD are often severe and disseminated. We present patient characteristics, microbiological data, and outcomes for 26 patients with CGD who received hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) or gene therapy-modified cells (GT) between 2008 and 2019, with proven fungal infection either before or during their transplant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Giant axonal neuropathy is a rare, autosomal recessive, pediatric, polysymptomatic, neurodegenerative disorder caused by biallelic loss-of-function variants in , the gene encoding gigaxonin.

Methods: We conducted an intrathecal dose-escalation study of scAAV9/JeT-GAN (a self-complementary adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy containing the transgene) in children with giant axonal neuropathy. Safety was the primary end point.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: P47phox (neutrophil cytosolic factor-1) deficiency is the most common cause of autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and is considered to be associated with a milder clinical phenotype. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for p47phox CGD is not well-described.

Objectives: We sought to study HCT for p47phox CGD in North America.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Thrombomodulin is important for the production of activated protein C (APC), a molecule with significant regulatory roles in coagulation and inflammation. To address known molecular incompatibilities between pig thrombomodulin and human thrombin that affect the conversion of protein C into APC, GalTKO.hCD46 pigs have been genetically modified to express human thrombomodulin (hTBM).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is caused by defects in any 1 of the 6 subunits forming the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase complex 2 (NOX2), leading to severely reduced or absent phagocyte-derived reactive oxygen species production. Almost 50% of patients with CGD have inflammatory bowel disease (CGD-IBD). While conventional IBD therapies can treat CGD-IBD, their benefits must be weighed against the risk of infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (XL-CGD) is an inherited disorder of superoxide production, causing failure to generate the oxidative burst in phagocytes. It is characterized by invasive bacterial and fungal infections, inflammation, and chronic autoimmune disease. While XL-CGD carriers were previously assumed to be healthy, a range of clinical manifestations with significant morbidity have recently been described in a subgroup of carriers with impaired neutrophil oxidative burst due to skewed lyonization.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency characterized by life-threatening infections and inflammatory conditions. Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is the definitive treatment for CGD, but questions remain regarding patient selection and impact of active disease on transplant outcomes. We performed a multi-institutional retrospective and prospective study of 391 patients with CGD treated either conventionally (non-HCT) enrolled from 2004 to 2018 or with HCT from 1996 to 2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer (LACC) trial found that minimally invasive radical hysterectomy compared to open radical hysterectomy compromised oncologic outcomes and was associated with worse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in early-stage cervical carcinoma. We sought to assess oncologic outcomes at multiple centers between minimally invasive (MIS) radical hysterectomy and OPEN radical hysterectomy.

Methods: This is a multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study of patients with 2009 FIGO stage IA1 (with lymphovascular space invasion) to IB1 cervical carcinoma from 1/2007-12/2016.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) due to IL2RG mutations is potentially fatal in infancy where 'emergency' life-saving stem cell transplant may only achieve incomplete immune reconstitution following transplant. Salvage therapy SCID-X1 patients over 2 years old (NCT01306019) is a non-randomized, open-label, phase I/II clinical trial for administration of lentiviral-transduced autologous hematopoietic stem cells following busulfan (6 mg/kg total) conditioning. The primary and secondary objectives assess efficacy in restoring immunity and safety by vector insertion site analysis (VISA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study focused on a holistic genetic evaluation of patients with immune-related issues, recognizing that multiple genetic factors might contribute to their health conditions rather than just a single gene explanation.
  • Researchers analyzed genetic data from 1505 individuals, uncovering 361 molecular diagnoses linked to various immune presentations, with significant updates obtained through reanalysis and new gene discoveries.
  • The findings indicate that the majority of molecular diagnoses could inform treatment options, highlighting the potential for whole exome analysis to enhance our understanding of genetic contributions to health on a large scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Granulocyte transfusions are sometimes used as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of infection in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). However, granulocyte transfusions can be associated with a high rate of alloimmunization, and their role in CGD patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) or gene therapy (GT) is unknown. We identified 27 patients with CGD who received granulocyte transfusions pre- (within 6 months) and/or post-HCT or GT in a retrospective survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study focused on febrile neutropenia in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation for chronic granulomatous disease, analyzing events and therapies related to this condition.
  • The research evaluated three HCT protocols to understand how different conditioning methods affected infection rates, particularly the timing of fever and neutropenia in relation to bacterial infections and antibiotic treatments.
  • The findings indicated that while febrile neutropenia was common, there were no deaths linked to infections during neutropenia, and the management strategies, including the use of specific antibiotics like carbapenems, played a significant role in patient outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited blood disorder of phagocytic cells that renders patients susceptible to infections and inflammation. A recent clinical trial of lentiviral gene therapy for the most frequent form of CGD, X-linked, has demonstrated stable correction over time, with no adverse events related to the gene therapy procedure. We have recently developed a parallel lentiviral vector for p47-deficient CGD (p47CGD), the second most common form of this disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose Of Review: Up-to-date review on various types of immunodeficiencies with a significant myeloid component including some more recently described congenital disorders.

Recent Findings: While a number of disorders have been described in the past, genetic sequencing has led to the identification of the specific disorders and clarified their pathophysiology. Advances in genetic therapies including genetic editing should provide future treatments beyond hematopoietic stem cell transplant for patients with these rare disorders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Granulocytes from patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) have dysfunctional phagocyte reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase that fails to generate sufficient antimicrobial reactive oxidative species. CGD patients with severe persistent fungal or bacterial infection who do not respond to antibiotic therapy may be given apheresis-derived allogeneic granulocyte transfusions from healthy volunteers to improve clearance of intractable infections. Allogeneic granulocyte donors are not HLA matched, so patients who receive the donor granulocyte products may develop anti-HLA alloimmunity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Plasma gelsolin (pGSN) is the secreted isoform of an intracellular actin remodeling protein found in high concentrations in human plasma. Clinical studies demonstrate reduced pGSN concentrations in several disease states, including severe trauma, burns, and sepsis. Markedly decreased pGSN concentrations in these conditions precede and predict adverse clinical outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The original version of this article unfortunately contained the missing author, Caridad Martinez. The authors would like to correct the list. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Seven patients with chronic granulomatous disease underwent haploidentical related donor (HRD) transplantation using peripheral blood cells and a specific conditioning treatment.
  • All recipients achieved full donor chimerism, but there was a high incidence of severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), with three patients experiencing grade 3 GVHD and two dying from it.
  • Despite initial success, the overall results suggest that the method is not recommended for CGD due to the unacceptable risk of severe GVHD, even though patients with severe infections at the time of transplant were successfully cured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Identify factors influencing the feasibility and safety of outpatient robotic-assisted hysterectomy for endometrial or cervical carcinoma.

Methods: A single-institution retrospective chart review of patients who underwent robotic hysterectomy for cervical or endometrial cancer between 2012 and 2016 was performed. Outcomes were measured by length of stay (LOS), which was categorized as an admit-to-discharge time of >12 h or <12 h.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disorder of phagocytic cells. We report the initial results of nine severely affected X-linked CGD (X-CGD) patients who received ex vivo autologous CD34 hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell-based lentiviral gene therapy following myeloablative conditioning in first-in-human studies (trial registry nos. NCT02234934 and NCT01855685).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The last case of wild poliovirus in Ethiopia was reported in 2014. Until the disease is eradicated globally, the risk of reimportation remains high. In 1999, the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) began its community-centered polio eradication efforts in Ethiopia, using community volunteers (CVs) to ensure that no child has missed polio vaccine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To compare the return of bladder function and genitourinary complications after type C1 robotic nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy (C1-RRH) to type C2 robotic radical hysterectomy (C2-RRH) in gynecologic cancers.

Methods: A retrospective analysis between C1-RRH (n = 42) and C2-RRH (n = 43) was performed. Operative outcomes and perioperative genitourinary complications between the two groups were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF