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Aiyengar A, Romano M, Burch M, Lombardi G, Fanelli G. The potential of autologous regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy to prevent Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV) in paediatric heart transplant recipients. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1444924. [PMID: 39315099 PMCID: PMC11416935 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1444924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 08/19/2024] [Indexed: 09/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Paediatric heart transplant is an established treatment for end stage heart failure in children, however patients have to commit to lifelong medical surveillance and adhere to daily immunosuppressants to minimise the risk of rejection. Compliance with immunosuppressants can be burdensome with their toxic side effects and need for frequent blood monitoring especially in children. Though the incidence of early rejection episodes has significantly improved overtime, the long-term allograft health and survival is determined by Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV) which affects a vast number of post-transplant patients. Once CAV has set in, there is no medical or surgical treatment to reverse it and graft survival is significantly compromised across all age groups. Current treatment strategies include novel immunosuppressant agents and drugs to lower blood lipid levels to address the underlying immunological pathophysiology and to manage traditional cardiac risk factors. Translational researchers are seeking novel immunological approaches that can lead to permanent acceptance of the allograft such as using regulatory T cell (Tregs) immunotherapy. Clinical trials in the setting of graft versus host disease, autoimmunity and kidney and liver transplantation using Tregs have shown the feasibility and safety of this strategy. This review will summarise current knowledge of the latest clinical therapies for CAV and pre-clinical evidence in support of Treg therapy for CAV. We will also discuss the different Treg sources and the considerations of translating this into a feasible immunotherapy in clinical practice in the paediatric population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apoorva Aiyengar
- Department of Cardiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
- Research Department of Children’s Cardiovascular Disease, Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Marco Romano
- Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College, London, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Burch
- Department of Cardiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Giovanna Lombardi
- Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College, London, United Kingdom
| | - Giorgia Fanelli
- Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College, London, United Kingdom
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The Use of Stress Cardiovascular Imaging in Pediatric Population. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 10:children10020218. [PMID: 36832347 PMCID: PMC9954485 DOI: 10.3390/children10020218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Although not frequent in the pediatric population, ischemia could occur in children due to several congenital and acquired disease. Stress imaging is key for the non-invasive evaluation of myocardial abnormalities and perfusion defect in this clinical setting. Moreover, beyond ischemia assessment, it can provide complementary diagnostic and prognostic information in valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathies. When performed using cardiovascular magnetic resonance, it could detect, in addition, myocardial fibrosis and infarction, increasing the diagnostic yield. Several imaging modalities are currently available for the evaluation of stress myocardial perfusion. Advances in technologies have also increased the feasibility, safety and availability of these modalities in the pediatric age group. However, despite the established role of stress imaging and its increasing use in daily clinical practice, there are currently no specific guidelines, and little data are available in the literature on this topic. The aim of this review is to summarize the most recent evidence on pediatric stress imaging and its clinical application with a focus on the advantages and limitations of each imaging modality currently available.
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Multimodality Imaging to Detect Rejection, and Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy in Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients—An Illustrative Review. TRANSPLANTOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/transplantology3030025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The three most common modalities of graft surveillance in pediatric heart transplant (HT) recipients include echocardiography, coronary angiography, and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). The survival outcomes after HT in children have improved considerably in recent years. However, allograft rejection and cardiac allograft vasculopathy remain the leading cause of death or re-transplantation. The routine surveillance by EMB and coronary angiography are invasive and risky. Newer noninvasive echocardiographic techniques, including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), 2-D speckle tracking echocardiography, CT coronary angiography (CTCA), cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography (PET) and invasive techniques such as intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), functional flow reserve (CFR) of coronary arteries, optical coherence tomography (OCT), have emerged as powerful tools which may help early recognition of sub-clinical rejection, response to treatment, early detection, and progression of CAV. The multimodality imaging approach, including noninvasive and invasive tests, is the future for the transplanted heart to detect dysfunction, rejections, and early CAV. This review illustrates noninvasive and invasive imaging techniques currently used or could be considered for clinical use in detecting heart transplant rejection, dysfunction, and CAV in children.
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Duran SR, Huffaker T, Dixon B, Gooty V, Abou Zahr R, Arar Y, Greer JS, Butts RJ, Hussain MT. Feasibility and safety of quantitative adenosine stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric heart transplant patients with and without coronary allograft vasculopathy. Pediatr Radiol 2021; 51:1311-1321. [PMID: 33791838 DOI: 10.1007/s00247-021-04977-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Revised: 11/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pediatric heart transplant patients require cardiac catheterization to monitor for coronary allograft vasculopathy. Cardiac catheterization has no safe and consistent method for measuring microvascular disease. Stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessing microvascular disease has been performed in adults. OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility and safety of performing cardiac MRI with quantitative adenosine stress perfusion testing in pediatric heart transplant patients with and without coronary allograft vasculopathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS All pediatric heart transplant patients with coronary vasculopathy at our institution were asked to participate. Age- and gender-matched pediatric heart transplant patients without vasculopathy were recruited for comparison. Patients underwent cardiac MRI with adenosine stress perfusion testing. RESULTS Sixteen pediatric heart transplant patients, ages 6-22 years, underwent testing. Nine patients had vasculopathy by angiography. No heart block or other complications occurred during the study. The myocardial perfusion reserve for patients with vasculopathy showed no significant difference with comparison patients (median: 1.43 vs. 1.48; P=0.49). Values for both groups were lower than expected values based on previous adult studies. The patients were also analyzed for time after transplant and the number of rejection episodes. Patients within 6 years of transplantation had a nonsignificant trend toward a higher myocardial perfusion reserve (median: 1.57) versus patients with older transplants (median: 1.47; P=0.46). Intra- and interobserver reproducibility were 97% and 92%, respectively. CONCLUSION Myocardial perfusion reserve is a safe and feasible method for estimating myocardial perfusion in pediatric heart transplant patients. There is no reliable way to monitor microvascular disease in pediatric patients. This method shows potential and deserves investigation in a larger cohort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvestre R Duran
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA. .,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA. .,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH, USA.
| | - Tyler Huffaker
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA
| | - Bryant Dixon
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA
| | - Vasu Gooty
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Riad Abou Zahr
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Yousef Arar
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Joshua S Greer
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA
| | - Ryan J Butts
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Mohammad T Hussain
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.,Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
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Khachatoorian Y, Khachadourian V, Chang E, Sernas ER, Reed EF, Deng M, Piening BD, Pereira AC, Keating B, Cadeiras M. Noninvasive biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis of heart transplantation rejection. Transplant Rev (Orlando) 2020; 35:100590. [PMID: 33401139 DOI: 10.1016/j.trre.2020.100590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2020] [Revised: 11/15/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
For most patients with end-stage heart failure, heart transplantation is the treatment of choice. Allograft rejection is one of the major post-transplantation complications affecting graft outcome and survival. Recent advancements in science and technology offer an opportunity to integrate genomic and other omics-based biomarkers into clinical practice, facilitating noninvasive evaluation of allograft for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Omics, including gene expression profiling (GEP) of blood immune cell components and donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) are of special interest to researchers. Several studies have investigated levels of dd-cfDNA and miroRNAs in blood as potential markers for early detection of allograft rejection. One of the achievements in the field of transcriptomics is AlloMap, GEP of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), which can identify 11 differentially expressed genes and help with detection of moderate and severe acute cellular rejection in stable heart transplant recipients. In recent years, the utilization of GEP of PBMC for identifying differentially expressed genes to diagnose acute antibody-mediated rejection and cardiac allograft vasculopathy has yielded promising results. Advancements in the field of metabolomics and proteomics as well as their potential implications have been further discussed in this paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yeraz Khachatoorian
- Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States of America.
| | - Vahe Khachadourian
- Turpanjian School of Public Health, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Eleanor Chang
- Division of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Erick R Sernas
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States of America
| | - Elaine F Reed
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Mario Deng
- Division of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Brian D Piening
- Earle A Chiles Research Institute, Providence Health and Services, Portland, OR, United States of America
| | | | - Brendan Keating
- Department of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Martin Cadeiras
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States of America
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Sivakumar K, Alam M, Singh A, Pavithran S, Subban V, Mullasari A. Percutaneous coronary intervention for coronary allograft vasculopathy with drug-eluting stent in Indian subcontinent: Issues in diagnosis and management. Ann Pediatr Cardiol 2020; 13:234-237. [PMID: 32863660 PMCID: PMC7437615 DOI: 10.4103/apc.apc_69_19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Revised: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronary allograft vasculopathy fails to give a warning anginal pain due to denervation and often presents with acute coronary syndrome, ventricular dysfunction, or sudden cardiac death. Early diagnosis in a pediatric patient is difficult as it involves invasive coronary angiography or advanced imaging such as intravascular ultrasound or optical coherence tomography. A 12-year-old boy developed acute coronary syndrome, elevated troponins, and right bundle branch block, 5 years after cardiac transplantation and was treated with culprit-vessel angioplasty with a drug-eluting stent. Advanced imaging showed the involvement of nonculprit vessels too. In a detailed literature search, we failed to identify a similar clinical presentation and management in the subcontinent, hence our interest in publishing this report for educational value. Issues in diagnosis, management, prognosis, and prevention are discussed.
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