Digital Commons Network^™

Acceptability And User Experiences Of A Patient-Held Smart Card For Antenatal Services In Nigeria: A Qualitative Study, Ijeoma Uchenna Itanyi, Juliet Iwelunmor, John Olajide Olawepo, Semiu Gbadamosi, Alexandra Ezeonu, Adaeze Okoli, Amaka Grace Ogidi, Donaldson Conserve, Byron Powell, Chima Ariel Onoka, Echezona Edozie Ezeanolue

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Poor maternal, newborn and child health outcomes remain a major public health challenge in Nigeria. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions such as patient-held smart cards have been proposed as effective solutions to improve maternal health outcomes. Our objectives were to assess the acceptability and experiences of pregnant women with the use of a patient-held smartcard for antenatal services in Nigeria.

METHODS: Using focus group discussions, qualitative data were obtained from 35 pregnant women attending antenatal services in four Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Benue State, Nigeria. The audio-recorded data were transcribed and analyzed using framework analysis techniques such as the …

Integrated Analysis Of Genomic And Transcriptomic Data For The Discovery Of Splice-Associated Variants In Cancer, Kelsy C Cotto, Yang-Yang Feng, Avinash Ramu, Megan Richters, Sharon L Freshour, Zachary L Skidmore, Huiming Xia, Joshua F Mcmichael, Jason Kunisaki, Katie M Campbell, Timothy Hung-Po Chen, Emily B Rozycki, Douglas Adkins, Siddhartha Devarakonda, Sumithra Sankararaman, Yiing Lin, William C Chapman, Christopher A Maher, Vivek Arora, Ramaswamy Govindan, Obi L Griffith, Malachi Griffith, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Somatic mutations within non-coding regions and even exons may have unidentified regulatory consequences that are often overlooked in analysis workflows. Here we present RegTools ( www.regtools.org ), a computationally efficient, free, and open-source software package designed to integrate somatic variants from genomic data with splice junctions from bulk or single cell transcriptomic data to identify variants that may cause aberrant splicing. We apply RegTools to over 9000 tumor samples with both tumor DNA and RNA sequence data. RegTools discovers 235,778 events where a splice-associated variant significantly increases the splicing of a particular junction, across 158,200 unique variants and 131,212 unique …

Advance Care Planning And Health-Related Quality Of Life In Huntington Disease: Results From A Multicenter National Study, Leonard L Sokol, Jonathan P Troost, Danny Bega, Benzi M Kluger, Holly G Prigerson, Martha Nance, Samuel Frank, Joel S Perlmutter, Praveen Dayalu, David Cella, Noelle E Carlozzi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: With Huntington disease (HD), a fatal neurodegenerative disease where the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behavior (STB) remains elevated as compared to other neurological disorders, it is unknown whether STB and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) affect plans for the end of life or more broadly, advance care planning (ACP). Conversely, it is unknown whether ACP would provoke future changes to STB and HRQoL. Therefore, we sought to evaluate whether STB and HRQoL patient-reported outcomes (PROs) contribute to ACP and whether ACP relates to changes in STB and HRQoL at 24 months.

METHODS: HD-validated clinician- and patient-assessments (i.e., HRQoL …

Exercise Training To Improve Brain Health In Older People Living With Hiv: Study Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Sarah Cooley, Brittany M Nelson, Alexander Rosenow, Elizabeth Westerhaus, W Todd Cade, Dominic N Reeds, Florin Vaida, Kevin E Yarasheski, Robert H Paul, Beau M Ances

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: With the advent of antiretrovirals, people living with HIV are living near-normal lifespans. However, people living with HIV are at greater risk of experiencing cognitive impairment and reduced brain integrity despite well-controlled viremia. A robust literature supports exercise interventions as a method of improving cognition and structural brain integrity in older individuals without HIV. The effects of exercise on cardiometabolic, neurocognitive, and neural structures in middle-aged to older people living with HIV are less well known, with few prospective studies examining these measures.

OBJECTIVE: This prospective randomized clinical trial will examine the effects of a 6-month exercise training intervention …

Vaccine Effectiveness Against Influenza A(H3n2)-Associated Hospitalized Illness: United States, 2022, Mark W Tenforde, Jennie H Kwon, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with historically low influenza circulation during the 2020-2021 season, followed by an increase in influenza circulation during the 2021-2022 US season. The 2a.2 subgroup of the influenza A(H3N2) 3C.2a1b subclade that predominated was antigenically different from the vaccine strain.

METHODS: To understand the effectiveness of the 2021-2022 vaccine against hospitalized influenza illness, a multistate sentinel surveillance network enrolled adults aged ≥18 years hospitalized with acute respiratory illness and tested for influenza by a molecular assay. Using the test-negative design, vaccine effectiveness (VE) was measured by comparing the odds of current-season influenza vaccination in influenza-positive …

Cross-Modal Functional Connectivity Supports Speech Understanding In Cochlear Implant Users, Amanda M Fullerton, Deborah A Vickers, Robert Luke, Addison N Billing, David Mcalpine, Heivet Hernandez-Perez, Jonathan E Peelle, Jessica J M Monaghan, Catherine M Mcmahon

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Sensory deprivation can lead to cross-modal cortical changes, whereby sensory brain regions deprived of input may be recruited to perform atypical function. Enhanced cross-modal responses to visual stimuli observed in auditory cortex of postlingually deaf cochlear implant (CI) users are hypothesized to reflect increased activation of cortical language regions, but it is unclear if this cross-modal activity is "adaptive" or "mal-adaptive" for speech understanding. To determine if increased activation of language regions is correlated with better speech understanding in CI users, we assessed task-related activation and functional connectivity of auditory and visual cortices to auditory and visual speech and non-speech …

Allosteric Effects Of E. Coli Ssb And Recr Proteins On Reco Protein Binding To Dna, Min Kyung Shinn, Sumit K Chaturvedi, Alexander G Kozlov, Timothy M Lohman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Escherichia coli single stranded (ss) DNA binding protein (SSB) plays essential roles in DNA maintenance. It binds ssDNA with high affinity through its N-terminal DNA binding core and recruits at least 17 different SSB interacting proteins (SIPs) that are involved in DNA replication, recombination, and repair via its nine amino acid acidic tip (SSB-Ct). E. coli RecO, a SIP, is an essential recombination mediator protein in the RecF pathway of DNA repair that binds ssDNA and forms a complex with E. coli RecR protein. Here, we report ssDNA binding studies of RecO and the effects of a 15 amino acid …

The Association Of Center Volume With Transplant Outcomes In Selected High-Risk Groups In Kidney Transplantation, Massini Merzkani, Su-Hsin Chang, Haris Murad, Krista L Lentine, Munis Mattu, Mei Wang, Vangie Hu, Bolin Wang, Yazen Al-Hosni, Obadah Alzahabi, Omar Alomar, Jason Wellen, Tarek Alhamad

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: In context of increasing complexity and risk of deceased kidney donors and transplant recipients, the impact of center volume (CV) on the outcomes of high-risk kidney transplants(KT) has not been well determined.

METHODS: We examined the association of CV and outcomes among 285 U.S. transplant centers from 2000-2016. High-risk KT were defined as recipient age ≥ 70 years, body mass index (BMI) ≥ 35 kg/m

RESULTS: Two hundred fifty thousand five hundred seventy-four KT were analyzed. Compared to high CV, recipients with BMI ≥ 35 kg/m

CONCLUSIONS: Recipients of high-risk KT with BMI ≥ 35 kg/m

Serum And Urinary Soluble Α-Klotho As Markers Of Kidney And Vascular Impairment, Julia Martín-Vírgala, Adriana S Dusso, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

This study was designed to investigate the controversy on the potential role of sKlotho as an early biomarker in Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD), to assess whether sKlotho is a reliable marker of kidney α-Klotho, to deepen the effects of sKlotho on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) osteogenic differentiation and to evaluate the role of autophagy in this process. Experimental studies were conducted in CKD mice fed a normal phosphorus (CKD+NP) or high phosphorus (CKD+HP) diet for 14 weeks. The patients' study was performed in CKD stages 2-5 and in vitro studies which used VSMCs exposed to non-calcifying medium …

Gemc1 And Mcidas Interactions With Swi/Snf Complexes Regulate The Multiciliated Cell-Specific Transcriptional Program, Michael Lewis, Tao Cheng, Moe R Mahjoub, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Multiciliated cells (MCCs) project dozens to hundreds of motile cilia from their apical surface to promote the movement of fluids or gametes in the mammalian brain, airway or reproductive organs. Differentiation of MCCs requires the sequential action of the Geminin family transcriptional activators, GEMC1 and MCIDAS, that both interact with E2F4/5-DP1. How these factors activate transcription and the extent to which they play redundant functions remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the transcriptional targets and proximal proteomes of GEMC1 and MCIDAS are highly similar. However, we identified distinct interactions with SWI/SNF subcomplexes; GEMC1 interacts primarily with the ARID1A containing …

Internal Capsule Microstructure Mediates The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment And Ptsd Following Adulthood Trauma Exposure, Samantha A. Wong, Stacey L. House, Deanna M. Barch, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Targeted Delivery Of Therapeutic Agents To The Mouse Brain Using A Stereotactic-Guided Focused Ultrasound Device, Zhongtao Hu, Yaoheng Yang, Dezhuang Ye, Si Chen, Yan Gong, Chinwendu Chukwu, Hong Chen

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Existing protocols of focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with microbubble-mediated blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening (FUS-BBBO) in preclinical research require expensive ultrasound equipment and complex operating procedures. We developed a low-cost, easy-to-use, and precise FUS device for small animal models in preclinical research. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for building the FUS transducer, attaching the transducer to a stereotactic frame for precise brain targeting, applying the integrated FUS device to perform FUS-BBBO in mice, and evaluating the FUS-BBBO outcome. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Hu et al. (2022).

Inducing T Cell Dysfunction By Chronic Stimulation Of Car-Engineered T Cells Targeting Cancer Cells In Suspension Cultures, Mehmet Emrah Selli, Jack H Landmann, Corvin Arveseth, Nathan Singh

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Several pre-clinical models reveal that chronic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) stimulation drives a dysfunctional state that mimics in vivo failure. In this protocol, we describe steps to induce T cell dysfunction by persistent and long-term stimulation of CAR-engineered T cells using antigen-expressing cancer cells in suspension cultures. We first described a validated method for manufacturing of CAR T cells, followed by a detailed method for chronic stimulation of CAR T cells and a strategy to evaluate these cells during the process of chronic stimulation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Singh et …

Comparing Gene Panels For Non-Retinal Indications: A Systematic Review, Rebecca Procopio, Jose S Pulido, Kammi B Gunton, Zeba A Syed, Daniel Lee, Mark L Moster, Robert Sergott, Julie A Neidich, Margaret M Reynolds

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The options for genetic testing continue to grow for ocular conditions, including optic atrophy, anterior segment dysgenesis, cataracts, corneal dystrophy, nystagmus, and glaucoma. Gene panels can vary in content and coverage, as we and others have evaluated in inherited retinal disease (IRD).

OBJECTIVE: To describe gene panel testing options for inherited eye disease phenotypes and their differences. This review is important for making diagnostic decisions.

EVIDENCE REVIEW: A licensed, certified genetic counselor (RP) used Concert Genetics and the search terms optic atrophy, corneal dystrophy, cataract, glaucoma, anterior segment dysgenesis, microphthalmia/anophthalmia, and nystagmus to identify available testing options performed by …

Zoledronic Acid Blocks Overactive Kir6.1/Sur2-Dependent Katp Channels In Skeletal Muscle And Osteoblasts In A Murine Model Of Cantú Syndrome, Rosa Scala, Fatima Maqoud, Conor Mcclenaghan, Theresa M Harter, Maria Grazia Perrone, Antonio Scilimati, Colin G Nichols, Domenico Tricarico

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cantú syndrome (CS) is caused by the gain of function mutations in the

Imaging Of Brain Structural And Functional Effects In People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Erin E O'Connor, Edith V Sullivan, Linda Chang, Dima A Hammoud, Tony W Wilson, Ann B Ragin, Christina S Meade, Jennifer Coughlin, Beau M Ances

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Before the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was often accompanied by central nervous system (CNS) opportunistic infections and HIV encephalopathy marked by profound structural and functional alterations detectable with neuroimaging. Treatment with antiretroviral therapy nearly eliminated CNS opportunistic infections, while neuropsychiatric impairment and peripheral nerve and organ damage have persisted among virally suppressed people with HIV (PWH), suggesting ongoing brain injury. Neuroimaging research must use methods sensitive for detecting subtle HIV-associated brain structural and functional abnormalities, while allowing for adjustments for potential confounders, such as age, sex, substance use, hepatitis C coinfection, cardiovascular risk, and others. …

Animal Models And Their Role In Imaging-Assisted Co-Clinical Trials, Donna M Peehl, Li Ding, Kooresh I Shoghi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The availability of high-fidelity animal models for oncology research has grown enormously in recent years, enabling preclinical studies relevant to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer to be undertaken. This has led to increased opportunities to conduct co-clinical trials, which are studies on patients that are carried out parallel to or sequentially with animal models of cancer that mirror the biology of the patients' tumors. Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) are considered to be the models that best represent human disease and have high translational value. Notably, one element of co-clinical trials that still needs significant …

Astrocytic Apoe4 Removal Confers Cerebrovascular Protection Despite Increased Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Monica Xiong, Chao Wang, Maud Gratuze, Fareeha Saadi, Xin Bao, Megan E Bosch, Choonghee Lee, Hong Jiang, Javier Remolina Serrano, Ernesto R Gonzales, Michal Kipnis, David M Holtzman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer Disease (AD) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) are both characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation in the brain, although Aβ deposits mostly in the brain parenchyma in AD and in the cerebrovasculature in CAA. The presence of CAA can exacerbate clinical outcomes of AD patients by promoting spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and ischemia leading to CAA-associated cognitive decline. Genetically, AD and CAA share the ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene as the strongest genetic risk factor. Although tremendous efforts have focused on uncovering the role of APOE4 on parenchymal plaque pathogenesis in AD, mechanistic studies investigating the role …

Ide-Cel Or Standard Regimens In Relapsed And Refractory Multiple Myeloma, Paula Rodriguez-Otero, Ravi Vij, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Survival is poor among patients with triple-class-exposed relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel), a B-cell maturation antigen-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, previously led to deep, durable responses in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

METHODS: In this international, open-label, phase 3 trial involving adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who had received two to four regimens previously (including immunomodulatory agents, proteasome inhibitors, and daratumumab) and who had disease refractory to the last regimen, we randomly assigned patients in a 2:1 ratio to receive either ide-cel (dose range, 150×10

RESULTS: A total …

Stepwise Multimodality Imaging Assists In Atrial Myxoma Diagnosis And Management, Kristen E Wong, Kartik Mani, Spencer J Melby, Ping Hou, Jiafu Ou

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The case of a 67-year-old man who presented for elective gastroenterology procedures and was in atrial fibrillation is discussed. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a large atrial mass. Preoperative coronary angiography revealed a heavily vascularized mass. Use of cardiac magnetic resonance identified the cardiac mass as likely an atrial myxoma. (

An Essential Endoplasmic Reticulum-Resident N-Acetyltransferase Ortholog In Plasmodium Falciparum, Alexander J Polino, Muhammad M Hasan, Katherine Floyd, Yolotzin Avila-Cruz, Yujuan Yang, Daniel E Goldberg

2020-Current year OA Pubs

N-terminal acetylation is a common eukaryotic protein modification that involves the addition of an acetyl group to the N-terminus of a polypeptide. This modification is largely performed by cytosolic N-terminal acetyltransferases (NATs). Most associate with the ribosome, acetylating nascent polypeptides co-translationally. In the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, exported effectors are thought to be translated into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), processed by the aspartic protease plasmepsin V and then N-acetylated, despite having no clear access to cytosolic NATs. Here, we used inducible gene deletion and post-transcriptional knockdown to investigate the primary ER-resident NAT candidate, Pf3D7_1437000. We found that it localizes to …

Injection Adipocytolysis For Body And Jawline Contouring: Real-World Experience And Treatment Considerations, Sachin M Shridharani, Grace M Tisch, Mackenzie L Kennedy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The role of ATX-101 in submental fat reduction has been well documented; however, its applicability across multiple anatomic areas is to be explored.

OBJECTIVES: The authors sought to describe the experience with ATX-101 subcutaneous injections for body and jawline contouring and evaluate its safety.

METHODS: This single-arm, single-center observational study included 201 patients who underwent injection adipocytolysis with ATX-101 (area-adjusted dose of 2 mg/cm2) in the jowl, abdomen (upper/lower), thigh (inner/outer/banana roll), arm, anterior periaxillary fat, back (lower/upper/nape/lipoma), knee (anterior/medial), chest, and/or neck. The number of treatment sessions, treatment volumes, doses, injections required for each anatomic area, and associated …

Spontaneous Activity Patterns In Human Attention Networks Code For Hand Movements, Lu Zhang, Lorenzo Pini, Dohyun Kim, Gordon L Shulman, Maurizio Corbetta

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Recent evidence suggests that, in the absence of any task, spontaneous brain activity patterns and connectivity in the visual and motor cortex code for natural stimuli and actions, respectively. These "resting-state" activity patterns may underlie the maintenance and consolidation (replay) of information states coding for ecological stimuli and behaviors. In this study, we examine whether replay patterns occur in resting-state activity in association cortex grouped into high-order cognitive networks not directly processing sensory inputs or motor outputs. Fifteen participants (7 females) performed four hand movements during an fMRI study. Three movements were ecological. The fourth movement as control was less …

Kdm6a Loss Triggers An Epigenetic Switch That Disrupts Urothelial Differentiation And Drives Cell Proliferation In Bladder Cancer, Hong Qiu, Jennifer K Bolzenius, Angela Halstead, Vivek Arora, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED: Disruption of KDM6A, a histone lysine demethylase, is one of the most common somatic alternations in bladder cancer. Insights into how KDM6A mutations affect the epigenetic landscape to promote carcinogenesis could help reveal potential new treatment approaches. Here, we demonstrated that KDM6A loss triggers an epigenetic switch that disrupts urothelial differentiation and induces a neoplastic state characterized by increased cell proliferation. In bladder cancer cells with intact KDM6A, FOXA1 interacted with KDM6A to activate genes instructing urothelial differentiation. KDM6A-deficient cells displayed simultaneous loss of FOXA1 target binding and genome-wide redistribution of the bZIP transcription factor ATF3, which in turn …

Generation Of Periventricular Reactive Astrocytes Overexpressing Aquaporin 4 Is Stimulated By Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy, María García-Bonilla, Kirill Shumilov, James P Mcallister 2nd, David D Limbrick Jr., Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) plays a crucial role in brain water circulation and is considered a therapeutic target in hydrocephalus. Congenital hydrocephalus is associated with a reaction of astrocytes in the periventricular white matter both in experimental models and human cases. A previous report showed that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) transplanted into the lateral ventricles of hyh mice exhibiting severe congenital hydrocephalus are attracted by the periventricular astrocyte reaction, and the cerebral tissue displays recovery. The present investigation aimed to test the effect of BM-MSC treatment on astrocyte reaction formation. BM-MSCs were injected into the lateral ventricles of four-day-old hyh …

Noninvasive Electromyometrial Imaging Of Human Uterine Maturation During Term Labor, Hui Wang, Zichao Wen, Wenjie Wu, Zhexian Sun, Zulfia Kisrieva-Ware, Yiqi Lin, Sicheng Wang, Hansong Gao, Haonan Xu, Peinan Zhao, Qing Wang, Alan L Schwartz, Phillip Cuculich, Yong Wang, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Electromyometrial imaging (EMMI) was recently developed to image the three-dimensional (3D) uterine electrical activation during contractions noninvasively and accurately in sheep. Herein we describe the development and application of a human EMMI system to image and evaluate 3D uterine electrical activation patterns at high spatial and temporal resolution during human term labor. We demonstrate the successful integration of the human EMMI system during subjects' clinical visits to generate noninvasively the uterine surface electrical potential maps, electrograms, and activation sequence through an inverse solution using up to 192 electrodes distributed around the abdomen surface. Quantitative indices, including the uterine activation curve, …

The Thin Line Between Conventional Dendritic Cells (Cdcs) And Group 3 Innate Lymphoid Cells (Ilc3s) In The Gut, Alina Ulezko Antonova, José Luís Fachi, Susan Gilfillan, Marco Colonna

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Dendritic cells (DCs) express major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) and are best known for proficiently presenting antigens to T cells, thereby eliciting specific adaptive T cell responses. Moreover, conventional DCs (cDCs) are specifically adept at handling intestinal antigens. Relatively recent discoveries and investigations have proven the existence of a new group of innate lymphocytes that reside in tissues like the intestine. They lack specific antigen receptors and can express MHC-II. These group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) comprise a subset of heterogeneous innate lymphocytes that mirror the phenotype and functions of T-helper cells and act in the first line …

Allopregnanolone Effects On Inhibition In Hippocampal Parvalbumin Interneurons, Xinguo Lu, Peter Lambert, Ann Benz, Charles F. Zorumski, Steven J. Mennerick

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Allopregnanolone (AlloP) is a neurosteroid that potentiates ionotropic GABAergic (GABA

A Gap-Free Genome Assembly Of Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii And Detection Of Translocations Induced By Crispr-Mediated Mutagenesis, Zachary L Payne, Gervette M Penny, Tychele N Turner, Susan K Dutcher

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genomic assemblies of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have provided important resources for researchers. However, assembly errors, large gaps, and unplaced scaffolds as well as strain-specific variants currently impede many types of analysis. By combining PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore long-read technologies, we generated a de novo genome assembly for strain CC-5816, derived from crosses of strains CC-125 and CC-124. Multiple methods of evaluating genome completeness and base-pair error rate suggest that the final telomere-to-telomere assembly is highly accurate. The CC-5816 assembly enabled previously difficult analyses that include characterization of the 17 centromeres, rDNA arrays on three chromosomes, and …

Clinicopathological Classification Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Myocarditis: Possible Refinement By Measuring Macrophage Abundance, Jesus Jimenez, Nicolas Kostelecky, Joshua D Mitchell, Kathleen W Zhang, Chieh-Yu Lin, Daniel J Lenihan, Kory J Lavine

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) myocarditis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. While endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is considered a gold standard for diagnosis, the sensitivity of EMB is not well defined. Additionally, the pathological features that correlate with the clinical diagnosis of ICI-associated myocarditis remain incompletely understood.

METHODS: We retrospectively identified and reviewed the clinicopathological features of 26 patients with suspected ICI-associated myocarditis based on institutional major and minor criteria. Seventeen of these patients underwent EMB, and the histopathological features were assessed by routine hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for CD68, a macrophage marker.

RESULTS: …