Jongwon Ha

Mixed hemopoietic chimerism has the potential to correct genetic hemological diseases (sickle cell anemia, thalassemia) and eliminate chronic immunosuppressive therapy following organ transplantation. To date, most strategies require either recipient conditioning (gamma-irradiation, depletion of the peripheral immune system) or administration of "mega" doses of bone marrow to facilitate reliable engraftment. Although encouraging, many issues remain that may restrict or prevent clinical applicati

Tolerance to self is a necessary attribute of the immune system. It is thought that most autoreactive T cells are deleted in the thymus during the process of negative selection. However, peripheral tolerance mechanisms also exist to prevent development of autoimmune diseases against peripheral self-Ags. It has been proposed that T cells develop tolerance to peripheral self-Ags encountered in the absence of inflammation or "danger" signals. We have used immunodeficient Rag 1-/- mice to study the

We confirmed the significant effects of CYP3A5 polymorphism on the achievement of target tacrolimus trough levels and the development of acute rejection in early period after transplantation and consequent renal allograft function.

There has been a significant growth in the number of deceased donors in Korea since the appropriate deceased organ donation system was launched. A comprehensive national program is required to improve deceased donation and achieve self-sufficiency.

The Adhere4U application did not improve adherence to immunosuppressive therapy. Our evidence is limited by the high rate of attrition. Further studies on strategies to facilitate patient engagement with mobile interventions are warranted.

Scedosporium spp. is the most common mold infection in pneumonia resulting from near-drowning. Three fatal scedosporiosis cases developed after solid organ transplantation, probably transmitted from the nearly-drowned donor. One heart transplant recipient and two kidney transplant recipients developed fatal scedosporiosis following deceased donor transplantation from the same donor, a nearly-drowned victim of a suicide attempt. Genotypically, indistinguishable strains of Scedosporium auratiacum

Background and objectives Use of arteriovenous fistulas, the most preferred type of access for hemodialysis, is limited by their high maturation failure rate. The aim of this study was to assess whether aggressive surveillance with routine duplex ultrasound and intervention can decrease the maturation failure rate of arteriovenous fistulas. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We conducted a single–center, parallel–group, randomized, controlled trial of patients undergoing autogenou

BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern about the therapeutic equivalence of the generic tacrolimus formulation (GEN Tacrolimus) to the reference tacrolimus (REF Tacrolimus) in solid organ transplantation. METHODS: A prospective, randomized study of 126 de novo renal transplant patients was conducted to compare the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles between GEN tacrolimus (n = 63) and REF tacrolimus (n = 63). The PK of tacrolimus was evaluated on Day 10 and 6 months under steady-s

The outcomes of expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys have been reported to be inferior compared with standard criteria donor (SCD) kidneys. However, the graft survival rate of ECD is not so inferior to SCD in Korea. The purposes of this study were to compare the outcomes of ECD kidneys with SCD kidneys and identify the influencing factors. We retrospectively studied 143 deceased donor transplants from August 2006 to June 2010. The patients were divided into SCD (n = 117) and ECD (n = 26) by UNO

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify genotypes associated with dose-adjusted tacrolimus trough concentrations (C 0 /D) in kidney transplant recipients using whole-exome sequencing (WES). This study included 147 patients administered tacrolimus, including seventy-five patients in the discovery set and seventy-two patients in the replication set. The patient genomes in the discovery set were sequenced using WES. Also, known tacrolimus pharmacokinetics-related intron variants were gen

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a strategy to induce resistance in a target organ against the oxidative stress and injury caused by ischemia and reperfusion (IR). RIPC harnesses the body's endogenous protective capabilities through brief episodes of IR applied in organs remote from the target. Few studies have analyzed this phenomenon in the kidney. Furthermore, the window of protection representing RIPC efficacy has not been fully elucidated. Here, we performed a multiomics study to s

Tacrolimus intra-patient variability (IPV) is a novel predictive marker for long-term kidney transplantation outcomes. We examined the association between IPV and calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) nephrotoxicity and the impact of pharmacogenes on CNI nephrotoxicity and IPV. Among kidney transplant recipients at our hospital between January 2013 and December 2015, the records of 80 patients who underwent 1-year protocol renal allograft biopsy and agreed to donate blood samples for genetic analysis were