Baylor Research Institute

Adelmann, D., K. Kronish and M. A. Ramsay (2017). “Anesthesia for liver transplantation.” Anesthesiol Clin 35(3): 491-508.

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The provision of anesthesia for a liver transplant program requires a dedicated team of anesthesiologists. Liver transplant anesthesiologists must have an understanding of liver physiology and anatomy; the spectrum of clinical disease associated with liver dysfunction; the impact of warm and cold ischemia times, surgical techniques in liver transplantation, and the impact of ischemia-reperfusion syndrome; and optimal practices to protect the liver. The team must provide a 24-hour service, be actively involved in the selection committee process, and stay current with advances in the subspecialty.

Mooney, J., S. L. Sellers, P. Blanke, P. Pibarot, R. T. Hahn, D. Dvir, P. S. Douglas, N. J. Weissman, S. K. Kodali, V. H. Thourani, H. Jilaihawi, O. Khalique, C. R. Smith, S. H. Kueh, M. Ohana, R. Grover, C. Naoum, A. Crowley, W. A. Jaber, M. C. Alu, R. Parvataneni, M. Mack, J. G. Webb, M. B. Leon and J. A. Leipsic (2017). “Ct-defined prosthesis-patient mismatch downgrades frequency and severity, and demonstrates no association with adverse outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.” JACC Cardiovasc Interv 10(15): 1578-1587.

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OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine if indexed effective orifice area (EOAi), using left ventricular outflow tract measured from computed tomography (EOAiCT), reclassified prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) compared with conventional echocardiogram-defined measurements (EOAiTTE). BACKGROUND: PPM does not predict mortality following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). However, it is unknown if the EOAiCT of the left ventricular outflow tract improves risk stratification. METHODS: A total of 765 TAVR patients from the PARTNER II (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves II) trial S3i cohort were evaluated. EOAi was calculated using the continuity equation, and the left ventricular outflow tract area was derived from baseline computed tomography. Traditional echocardiographic categories defined PPM: absent (>0.85 cm2/m2), moderate (>/=0.65 and

Butler, J., C. E. Hamo, G. Filippatos, S. J. Pocock, R. A. Bernstein, M. Brueckmann, A. K. Cheung, J. T. George, J. B. Green, J. L. Januzzi, S. Kaul, C. S. P. Lam, G. Y. H. Lip, N. Marx, P. A. McCullough, C. R. Mehta, P. Ponikowski, J. Rosenstock, N. Sattar, A. Salsali, B. M. Scirica, S. J. Shah, H. Tsutsui, S. Verma, C. Wanner, H. J. Woerle, F. Zannad and S. D. Anker (2017). “The potential role and rationale for treatment of heart failure with sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors.” Eur J Heart Fail: 2017 Aug [Epub ahead of print].

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Heart failure (HF) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are both growing public health concerns contributing to major medical and economic burdens to society. T2DM increases the risk of HF, frequently occurs concomitantly with HF, and worsens the prognosis of HF. Several anti-hyperglycaemic medications have been associated with a concern for worse HF outcomes. More recently, the results of the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial showed that the sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor empagliflozin was associated with a pronounced and precocious 32% reduction in cardiovascular mortality in subjects with T2DM and established cardiovascular disease. These benefits were more related to a reduction in incident HF events rather than to ischaemic vascular endpoints. Several mechanisms have been put forward to explain these benefits, which also raise the possibility of using these drugs as therapies not only in the prevention of HF, but also for the treatment of patients with established HF regardless of the presence or absence of diabetes. Several large trials are currently exploring this postulate.

Asadollahi, R., M. Zweier, L. Gogoll, R. Schiffmann, H. Sticht, K. Steindl and A. Rauch (2017). “Genotype-phenotype evaluation of med13l defects in the light of a novel truncating and a recurrent missense mutation.” Eur J Med Genet 60(9): 451-464.

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A decade after the designation of MED13L as a gene and its link to intellectual disability (ID) and dextro-looped transposition of great arteries in 2003, we previously described a recognizable syndrome due to MED13L haploinsufficiency. Subsequent reports of 22 further patients diagnosed by genome-wide testing further delineated the syndrome with expansion of the phenotypic spectrum and showed reduced penetrance for congenital heart defects. We now report two novel patients identified by whole exome sequencing, one with a de novo MED13L truncating mutation and the other with a de novo missense mutation. The first patient indicates some facial resemblance to Kleefstra syndrome as a novel differential diagnosis, and the second patient shows, for the first time, recurrence of a MED13L missense mutation (p.(Asp860Gly)). Notably, our in silico modelling predicted this missense mutation to decrease the stability of an alpha-helix and thereby affecting the MED13L secondary structure, while the majority of published missense mutations remain variants of uncertain significance. Review of the reported patients with MED13L haploinsufficiency indicates moderate to severe ID and facial anomalies in all patients, as well as severe speech delay and muscular hypotonia in the majority. Further common signs include abnormal MRI findings of myelination defects and abnormal corpus callosum, ataxia and coordination problems, autistic features, seizures/abnormal EEG, or congenital heart defects, present in about 20-50% of the patients. With reference to facial anomalies, the majority of patients were reported to show broad/prominent forehead, low set ears, bitemporal narrowing, upslanting palpebral fissures, depressed/flat nasal bridge, bulbous nose, and abnormal chin, but macroglossia and horizontal eyebrows were also observed in approximately 30%. The latter are especially important in the differential diagnosis of 1p36 deletion and Kleefstra syndromes, while the more common facial gestalt shows some resemblance to 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Despite the fact that MED13L was found to be one of the most common ID genes in the Deciphering Developmental Disorders Study, further detailed patient descriptions are needed to explore the full clinical spectrum, potential genotype-phenotype correlations, as well as the role of missense mutations and potential mutational hotspots along the gene.

Graham, J. P., P. Authie, A. Karolina Palucka and G. Zurawski (2017). “Targeting interferon-alpha to dendritic cells enhances a cd8+ t cell response to a human cd40-targeted cancer vaccine.” Vaccine 35(35 Pt B): 4532-4539.

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Targeting antigens to antigen presenting cells (APC) enhances the potency of recombinant protein CD8+ T cell vaccines. Recent comparisons of recombinant protein-based dendritic cell (DC) targeting vaccines revealed differences in cross-presentation and identified CD40 as a potent human DC receptor target for antigen cross-presentation. Contrary to in vitro-derived monocyte (mo)DC, we found that interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) stimulation of human blood-derived DC was necessary for an antigen-specific IFNgamma CD8+ T cell response to a CD40 targeted cancer vaccine. Importantly, targeting an adjuvant in the form of IFNalpha to DC increased their potency to elicit antigen-specific production of IFNgamma by CD8+ T cells. Thus, we introduce the concept of DC adjuvant targeting to enhance the potency of vaccination.