Publications by authors named "R E Pierson"
Background: Long-term renal allograft acceptance has been achieved in macaques using a transient mixed hematopoetic chimerism protocol, but similar regimens have proven unsuccessful in heart allograft recipients unless a kidney transplant was performed simultaneously. Here, we test whether a modified protocol based on targeting CD154, CD2, and CD28 is sufficient to prolong heart allograft acceptance or promote the expansion of regulatory T cells.
Methods: Eight macaques underwent heterotopic allo-heart transplantation from major histocompatibility complex-mismatched donors.
Background: Transplantation using hearts obtained through donation after circulatory death (DCD) is increasing, but data on recipient renal outcomes are limited.
Methods And Results: Patients at a single institution who underwent heart transplantation using organs procured through DCD or donation after brain death (DBD) from April 2016 to August 2022 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Hemodynamic measures were collected via right heart catheterization performed 1 week after transplantation.
Article Synopsis
- - In vitro studies show that kidney transplants from gene-edited pigs may face more challenges in nonhuman primates (NHPs) than in humans, but pig-to-human transplants have distinct advantages like better communication with the surgical team and improved monitoring methods.
- - Advantages for recipients of xenotransplants include better clinical-grade microbiological management, access to advanced monitoring and imaging techniques, and available therapeutic interventions not easily accessible in NHP models.
- - To expedite safe human clinical trials, it's proposed to start small pilot cases for high-risk patients, particularly those over 60, with specific blood types, or diabetic nephropathy, as many patients on the kidney waitlist die each year due to lack of alternatives.
Background: Xenotransplantation has made significant advances recently using pigs genetically engineered to remove carbohydrate antigens, either alone or with addition of various human complement, coagulation, and anti-inflammatory ''transgenes''. Here we evaluated results associated with gene-edited (GE) pig hearts transplanted in baboons using an established costimulation-based immunosuppressive regimen and a cold-perfused graft preservation technique.
Methods: Eight baboons received heterotopic abdominal heart transplants from 3-GE (GalKO.
Purpose Of The Review: The current lack of objective and quantitative assessment techniques to determine cardiac graft relative viability results in risk-averse decision-making, which negatively impact the utilization of cardiac grafts. The purpose of this review is to highlight the current deficiencies in cardiac allograft assessment before focusing on novel cardiac assessment techniques that exploit conventional and emerging imaging modalities, including ultrasound, magnetic resonance, and spectroscopy.
Recent Findings: Extensive work is ongoing by the scientific community to identify improved objective metrics and tools for cardiac graft assessment, with the goal to safely increasing the number and proportion of hearts accepted for transplantation.