Donor-specific immune senescence as a candidate biomarker of operational tolerance following liver transplantation in adults: Results of a prospective, multicenter cohort study.

Immunosuppression can be withdrawn from selected liver transplant recipients, although robust clinical predictors of tolerance remain elusive. The Immune Tolerance Network ITN056ST study (OPTIMAL; NCT02533180) assessed clinical outcomes and mechanistic correlates of phased immunosuppression withdrawal (ISW) in nonautoimmune, nonviral adult liver transplant recipients. Enrolled subjects were ≥3 years posttransplant with minimal/absent inflammation or fibrosis on a screening liver biopsy.

Handling missing data through prevention strategies in self-administered questionnaires: a discussion paper.

Background: Self-administered questionnaires are efficient and low-cost ways of collecting data with wide cohorts. Nonetheless, their use in studies can result in a high occurrence of missing data, which can affect the statistical power, representativeness and generalisability of the findings. Imputation methods have been considered efficient statistical techniques for managing missing data.

Impact of Donor and Recipient Clinical Characteristics and Hepatic Histology on Steatosis/Fibrosis Following Liver Transplantation.

Background: Deceased donor and recipient predictors of posttransplant steatosis/steatohepatitis and fibrosis are not well known. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and assess donor and recipient predictors of steatosis, steatohepatitis, and fibrosis in liver transplantation recipients.

Methods: Using the immune tolerance network A-WISH multicenter study (NCT00135694), donor and recipient demographic and clinical features were collected.

Anthony and the Role of Silence in Portraiture in Clinical Settings.

This article describes one collaborative arts-based research project. Portrait artist Mark Gilbert and coinvestigators consider lessons for art and healing from one patient, Anthony, whose experience of head and neck cancer diagnosis, surgery, and recovery suggests how silence is ethically, artistically, and clinically significant.

Effect of early-stage autophagy inhibition in BRAF autophagy-dependent brain tumor cells.

Autophagy is a multistage process. Progress within the field has led to the development of agents targeting both early (initiation) and late (fusion) stages of this process. The specific stage of autophagy targeted may influence cancer treatment outcomes.

Prevalence and Impact of De Novo Donor-Specific Antibodies During a Multicenter Immunosuppression Withdrawal Trial in Adult Liver Transplant Recipients.

The development of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) donor-specific antibody/antibodies (DSA) is not well described in liver transplant (LT) patients undergoing immunosuppression (IS) withdrawal protocols despite the allograft risk associated with de novo DSA (dnDSA). We analyzed the development of dnDSA in 69 LT patients who received calcineurin inhibitor monotherapy and were enrolled in the ITN030ST study. Of these 69 patients, 40 stable patients were randomized to IS maintenance (n = 9) or IS minimization (n = 31).

An ectopically expressed serum miRNA signature is prognostic, diagnostic, and biologically related to liver allograft rejection.

Unlabelled: The ability to noninvasively diagnose acute cellular rejection (ACR) with high specificity and sensitivity would significantly advance personalized liver transplant recipient care and management of immunosuppression. We performed microRNA (miRNA) profiling in 318 serum samples from 69 liver transplant recipients enrolled in the Immune Tolerance Network immunosuppression withdrawal (ITN030ST) and Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation (CTOT-03) studies. We quantified serum miRNA at clinically indicated and/or protocol biopsy events (n = 130).

Portrait of a process: arts-based research in a head and neck cancer clinic.

The role of art in medicine is complex, varied and uncertain. To examine one aspect of the relationship between art and medicine, investigators analysed the interactions between a professional artist and five adult patients with head and neck cancer as they cocreated portraits in a clinical setting. The artist and four members of an interdisciplinary team analysed the portraits as well as journal entries, transcripts of portrait sessions and semistructured interviews.