The Banff 2022 Kidney Meeting Report: Re-Appraisal of Microvascular Inflammation and the Role of Biopsy-Based Transcript Diagnostics.

The XVI-th Banff Meeting for Allograft Pathology was held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, from 19th-23rd September 2022, as a joint meeting with the Canadian Society of Transplantation. To mark the 30 anniversary of the first Banff Classification, pre-meeting discussions were held on the past, present, and future of the Banff Classification. This report is a summary of the meeting highlights that were most important in terms of their effect on the Classification, including discussions around microvascular inflammation and biopsy-based transcript analysis for diagnosis.

Clinical and molecular spectrum of v-lesion.

Isolated v-lesion presents diagnostic stratification and clinical challenges. We characterized allograft outcomes for this entity based on posttransplant time (early: ≤1 month vs late: >1 month) and compared its molecular phenotype with other v+ rejection forms. Using the NanoString B-HOT panel, we analyzed 92 archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue kidney biopsies from 3 centers: isolated v-lesion (n = 23), antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) v+ (n = 26), T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) v+ (n = 10), mixed rejection v+ (n = 23), and normal tissue (n = 10).

RSV Risk Profile in Hospitalized Adults and Comparison with Influenza and COVID-19 Controls in Valladolid, Spain, 2010-2022.

Introduction: We aimed to describe the risk profile of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections among adults ≥ 60 years in Valladolid from January 2010 to August 2022, and to compare them with influenza and COVID-19 controls.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of all laboratory-confirmed RSV infections identified in centralized microbiology database during a 12-year period. We analyzed risk factors for RSV hospitalization and severity (length of stay, intensive care unit admission, in-hospital death or readmission < 30 days) and compared severity between RSV patients vs.

Temperature-related neonatal deaths attributable to climate change in 29 low- and middle-income countries.

Exposure to high and low ambient temperatures increases the risk of neonatal mortality, but the contribution of climate change to temperature-related neonatal deaths is unknown. We use Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data (n = 40,073) from 29 low- and middle-income countries to estimate the temperature-related burden of neonatal deaths between 2001 and 2019 that is attributable to climate change. We find that across all countries, 4.

Contribution of climate change to the spatial expansion of West Nile virus in Europe.

West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen in Europe where it represents a new public health threat. While climate change has been cited as a potential driver of its spatial expansion on the continent, a formal evaluation of this causal relationship is lacking. Here, we investigate the extent to which WNV spatial expansion in Europe can be attributed to climate change while accounting for other direct human influences such as land-use and human population changes.

A Machine Learning-Driven Virtual Biopsy System For Kidney Transplant Patients.

In kidney transplantation, day-zero biopsies are used to assess organ quality and discriminate between donor-inherited lesions and those acquired post-transplantation. However, many centers do not perform such biopsies since they are invasive, costly and may delay the transplant procedure. We aim to generate a non-invasive virtual biopsy system using routinely collected donor parameters.

The Banff 2022 Kidney Meeting Report: Reappraisal of microvascular inflammation and the role of biopsy-based transcript diagnostics.

The XVI-th Banff Meeting for Allograft Pathology was held at Banff, Alberta, Canada, from 19th to 23rd September 2022, as a joint meeting with the Canadian Society of Transplantation. To mark the 30th anniversary of the first Banff Classification, premeeting discussions were held on the past, present, and future of the Banff Classification. This report is a summary of the meeting highlights that were most important in terms of their effect on the Classification, including discussions around microvascular inflammation and biopsy-based transcript analysis for diagnosis.

Emerging phenotypes in kidney transplant rejection.

Purpose Of Review: This review focuses on more recently emerging rejection phenotypes in the context of time post transplantation and the resulting differential diagnostic challenges. It also discusses how novel ancillary diagnostic tools can potentially increase the accuracy of biopsy-based rejection diagnosis.

Recent Findings: With advances in reducing immunological risk at transplantation and improved immunosuppression treatment renal allograft survival improved.

The Banff 2022 Kidney Meeting Work Plan: Data-driven refinement of the Banff Classification for renal allografts.

The XVIth Banff Meeting for Allograft Pathology was held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, from September 19 to 23, 2022, as a joint meeting with the Canadian Society of Transplantation. In addition to a key focus on the impact of microvascular inflammation and biopsy-based transcript analysis on the Banff Classification, further sessions were devoted to other aspects of kidney transplant pathology, in particular T cell-mediated rejection, activity and chronicity indices, digital pathology, xenotransplantation, clinical trials, and surrogate endpoints. Although the output of these sessions has not led to any changes in the classification, the key role of Banff Working Groups in phrasing unanswered questions, and coordinating and disseminating results of investigations addressing these unanswered questions was emphasized.

Banff Human Organ Transplant Consensus Gene Panel for the Detection of Antibody Mediated Rejection in Heart Allograft Biopsies.

The molecular refinement of the diagnosis of heart allograft rejection based on whole-transcriptome analyses faces several hurdles that greatly limit its widespread clinical application. The targeted Banff Human Organ Transplant gene panel (B-HOT, including 770 genes of interest) has been developed to facilitate reproducible and cost-effective gene expression analysis of solid organ allografts. We aimed to determine the ability of this targeted panel to capture the antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) molecular profile using whole-transcriptome data from 137 heart allograft biopsies (71 biopsies reflecting the entire landscape of histologic AMR, 66 non-AMR control biopsies including cellular rejection and non-rejection cases).

Finding the right context of use for molecular transplant diagnostics in kidney allograft biopsies.

Biopsy-based molecular diagnostics holds promise to increase diagnostic precision. In this issue of Kidney International, Beadle et al. describe a molecular classifier derived from the Banff Human Organ Transplant panel.

Progress toward Health System Readiness for Genome-Based Testing in Canada.

(1) Background: Genomic medicine harbors the real potential to improve the health and healthcare journey of patients, care provider experiences, and improve the health system efficiency-even reducing healthcare costs. There is expected to be an exponential growth in medically necessary new genome-based tests and test approaches in the coming years. Testing can also create scientific research and commercial opportunities beyond healthcare decision making.

Population, land use and economic exposure estimates for Europe at 100 m resolution from 1870 to 2020.

Understanding the influence of climate change on past extreme weather impacts is a vital research task. However, the effects of climate change are obscured in the observed impact data series due to the rapid evolution of the social and economic circumstances in which the events occurred. The HANZE v2.

Sensitization in transplantation: Assessment of Risk 2022 Working Group Meeting Report.

The Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk workgroup is a collaborative effort of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics that aims at providing recommendations for clinical testing, highlights gaps in current knowledge, and proposes areas for further research to enhance histocompatibility testing in support of solid organ transplantation. This report provides updates on topics discussed by the previous Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk working groups and introduces 2 areas of exploration: non-human leukocyte antigen antibodies and utilization of human leukocyte antigen antibody testing measurement to evaluate the efficacy of antibody-removal therapies.

2022 Joint Meeting On Transplantation: Canadian Society of Transplantation And Banff Foundation of Allograft Pathology.

The Canadian Society of Transplantation (CST) annual scientific meeting was held in Banff Alberta September 19-23, 2022. It provided a forum for the transplantation community to share ideas, leading practices, innovative science and educational content in transplant care. The meeting brought together members of the Banff Foundation for Allograft Pathology and the CST for a hybrid event, combining both in-person and virtual experiences, and helping the two societies reach a wider audience.