No abstract available.
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/diagnostic use ; Genetic Variation ; Humans ; Individualized Medicine/*methods ; Iodine Radioisotopes/*therapeutic use ; Molecular Imaging/methods ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Symporters/biosynthesis/*metabolism ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*drug therapy/*genetics ; Tumor Microenvironment

In order to develop a successful vaccine against deadly diseases with a wide range of antigenic diversity, an in-depth knowledge of the molecules and signaling mechanisms between the vaccine candidates and immune cells is required. Therefore, monitoring vaccine components, such as antigen or adjuvants, and immune cell dynamics at the vaccination site or draining lymph nodes can provide important information to understand more about the vaccine response. This review briefly introduces and describes various non-invasive molecular imaging methods for visualizing immune cell dynamics after vaccination.
Antigenic Variation ; Lymph Nodes ; Molecular Imaging ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

Recent advances in immune modulation have made impressive progress in cancer immunotherapy. Because dynamic nature of the immune response often makes it difficult to evaluate therapeutic outcomes, innovative imaging technologies have been developed to enable non-invasive visualization of immune cells and tumors in their microenvironment. This review summarizes the current tumor immunology and describes new innovative imaging methods with great potential to obtain non-invasive real-time insights into the complex functions of the immune system and into the management of cancer immunotherapy.

Clinical and preclinical in vivo immune cell imaging approaches have been used to study immune cell proliferation, apoptosis and interaction at the microscopic (intra-vital imaging) and macroscopic (whole-body imaging) level by use of ex vivo or in vivo labeling method. A series of imaging techniques ranging from non-radiation based techniques such as optical imaging, MRI, and ultrasound to radiation based CT/nuclear imaging can be used for in vivo immune cell tracking. These imaging modalities highlight the intrinsic behavior of different immune cell populations in physiological context. Fluorescent, radioactive or paramagnetic probes can be used in direct labeling protocols to monitor the specific cell population. Reporter genes can also be used for genetic, indirect labeling protocols to track the fate of a given cell subpopulation in vivo. In this review, we summarized several methods dealing with dendritic cell, macrophage, and T lymphocyte specifically labeled for different macroscopic wholebody imaging techniques both for the study of their physiological function and in the context of immunotherapy to exploit imaging-derived information and immune-based treatments.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Tracking ; Dendritic Cells ; Genes, Reporter ; Immunotherapy ; Lymphocytes ; Macrophages ; Molecular Imaging ; Optical Imaging ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Track and Field

Clinical and preclinical in vivo immune cell imaging approaches have been used to study immune cell proliferation, apoptosis and interaction at the microscopic (intra-vital imaging) and macroscopic (whole-body imaging) level by use of ex vivo or in vivo labeling method. A series of imaging techniques ranging from non-radiation based techniques such as optical imaging, MRI, and ultrasound to radiation based CT/nuclear imaging can be used for in vivo immune cell tracking. These imaging modalities highlight the intrinsic behavior of different immune cell populations in physiological context. Fluorescent, radioactive or paramagnetic probes can be used in direct labeling protocols to monitor the specific cell population. Reporter genes can also be used for genetic, indirect labeling protocols to track the fate of a given cell subpopulation in vivo. In this review, we summarized several methods dealing with dendritic cell, macrophage, and T lymphocyte specifically labeled for different macroscopic wholebody imaging techniques both for the study of their physiological function and in the context of immunotherapy to exploit imaging-derived information and immune-based treatments.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Tracking ; Dendritic Cells ; Genes, Reporter ; Immunotherapy ; Lymphocytes ; Macrophages ; Molecular Imaging ; Optical Imaging ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Track and Field

Applications of nanotechnology in the medical field have provided the fundamentals of tremendous improvement in precise diagnosis and customized therapy. Recent advances in nanomedicine have led to establish a new concept of theragnosis, which utilizes nanomedicines as a therapeutic and diagnostic tool at the same time. The development of high affinity nanoparticles with large surface area and functional groups multiplies diagnostic and therapeutic capacities. Considering the specific conditions related to the disease of individual patient, customized therapy requires the identification of disease target at the cellular and molecular level for reducing side effects and enhancing therapeutic efficiency. Well-designed nanoparticles can minimize unnecessary exposure of cytotoxic drugs and maximize targeted localization of administrated drugs. This review will focus on major pharmaceutical nanomaterials and nanoparticles as key components of designing and surface engineering for targeted theragnostic drug development.
Drug Delivery Systems ; Humans ; Nanomedicine ; Nanoparticles ; Nanostructures ; Nanotechnology

In allogeneic transplantation, including the B6 anti-BALB.B settings, H60 and H4 are two representative dominant minor histocompatibility antigens that induce strong CD8 T-cell responses. With different distribution patterns, H60 expression is restricted to hematopoietic cells, whereas H4 is ubiquitously expressed. H60-specific CD8 T-cell response has been known to be dominant in most cases of B6 anti-BALB.B allo-responses, except in the case of skin transplantation. To understand the mechanism underlying the subdominance of H60 during allogeneic skin transplantation, we investigated the dynamics of the H60-specific CD8 T cells in B6 mice transplanted with allogeneic BALB.B tail skin. Unexpectedly, longitudinal bioluminescence imaging and flow cytometric analyses revealed that H60-specific CD8 T cells were not always subdominant to H4-specific cells but instead showed a brief dominance before the H4 response became predominant. H60-specific CD8 T cells could expand in the draining lymph node and migrate to the BALB.B allografts, indicating their active participation in the anti-BALB.B allo-response. Enhancing the frequencies of H60-reactive CD8 T cells prior to skin transplantation reversed the immune hierarchy between H60 and H4. Additionally, H60 became predominant when antigen presentation was limited to the direct pathway. However, when antigen presentation was restricted to the indirect pathway, the expansion of H60-specific CD8 T cells was limited, whereas H4-specific CD8 T cells expanded significantly, suggesting that the temporary immunodominance and eventual subdominance of H60 could be due to their reliance on the direct antigen presentation pathway. These results enhance our understanding of the immunodominance phenomenon following allogeneic tissue transplantation.
Animals ; Antigen Presentation ; Antigen-Presenting Cells/immunology/metabolism ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*immunology ; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/*immunology ; Female ; Graft Rejection/*immunology ; Interferon-gamma ; Lymphocyte Activation/immunology ; Lymphocyte Count ; Mice ; Minor Histocompatibility Antigens/*immunology/metabolism ; *Skin Transplantation ; Transplantation, Homologous

PURPOSE: Renal transplantation for the management of end-stage renal disease(ESRD) in children is now the optimal treatment. We analyzed the clinical courses and characteristics of pediatric renal transplantation in Asan Medical Center. METHODS: We reviewed the charts of 60 cases of renal transplantation under the age of 18, admitted to Asan Medical Center, from Oct. 1990 to May 2003. We analyzed retrospectively to clarify the clinical courses, risk factors affecting graft survival, recurrence of the original disease, complications and growth. RESULTS: Graft was taken from 48 living donors, and 12 cadaveric donors. The mean age at transplantation was 13.1 years. The overall graft survival rates were 96.3% at one year, 84.4% at five year, 47.6% at 10 years. The overall patient survival rates were 98.1% at one year, 95.1% at five years, 95.1% at 10 years. A total of 13 grafts were lost(21.7%). The presence of acute rejection within one year after graft(P=0.0045) and recipient less than five years old(P=0.0027) were significant risk factors for poor graft survival. The recurrence rate of original disease was 8.3% and the most common complication was infection(50%). In the group less than 3 percentile of pretransplantation height, there were much longer duration of ESRD and much greater growth after transplantation(P=0.002). CONCLUSION: The graft survival rate for pediatric renal transplantation has been greatly increased, similar to those of adult renal transplantation with the development of operation techniques and immunosuppressants. Further studies into the factors improving graft survival and new immunosuppressants to reduce the rate of rejection, and efforts to reduce the incidence of infection, are needed at this time.
Adult ; Cadaver ; Child ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Incidence ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Living Donors ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Survival Rate ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

BACKGROUND: Forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) is the most reliable marker for regulatory T cells, which play an important role in maintaining renal allograft tolerance. Recently, Foxp3 polymorphisms have been reported to be associated with graft outcome in kidney transplantation. We analyzed the association of Foxp3 polymorphisms with renal allograft outcome. METHODS: Foxp3 polymorphisms (rs3761548 A/C, rs2280883 C/T, rs5902434 del/ATT, and rs2232365 A/G) were tested by PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) in 231 adult kidney transplantation recipients from 1996-2004 at Seoul National University Hospital. RESULTS: Patients with the rs3761548 CC genotype showed better graft survival than those with the AC or AA genotype (log rank test, P=0.03). Patients with the rs3761548 CC genotype also showed a lower rate of recurrence of the original glomerular disease than those with the AC or AA genotype (P=0.01). The frequency of acute rejection (AR) in patients with the rs2280883 TT genotype was lower than that in patients with the rs2280883 CT or CC genotype (26.9% vs 53.3%, P=0.038). Patients with the rs2280883 TT genotype also showed better graft survival than those with the CT or CC genotype (P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Foxp3 rs3761548 CC and rs2280883 TT genotypes were associated with superior graft outcome of kidney transplantation. Further studies involving a larger number of patients are needed.
Adult ; Allografts* ; Genotype ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Recurrence ; Seoul ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Transplantation Tolerance ; Transplants

BACKGROUND: Polycythemia vera (PV) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm that can cause complications such as thrombosis and organ damage. To prevent complications of PV, therapy for maintenance of a hematocrit target of less than 45% has been recommended and phlebotomy is a simple therapy. However, the effects of phlebotomy have not been well evaluated in Korea. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of phlebotomy performed in patients with PV and secondary polycythemia. METHODS: The clinical data and phlebotomy records of 15 patients diagnosed with PV and secondary polycythemia from May 2005 to March 2013 at the National Cancer Center were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Patients included 10 males and five females. The median age of patients was 63 years (range, 50~72 years). There were six PV patients (40%) and nine secondary polycythemia patients (60%). The mean number of phlebotomy attempts per patient was 6 (range, 1~22), with an interval between phlebotomy attempts of 16 weeks (range, 1~96 weeks). The mean phlebotomy volume was 458 mL, which was 10.3% of the total blood volume. After phlebotomy, the mean hematocrit showed a decline, from 50.4 (+/-4.35)% to 46.5 (+/-4.85)%, and symptoms improved. After phlebotomies, 10 patients achieved a hematocrit of less than 45% and this hematocrit level was obtained after an average of six phlebotomies. CONCLUSION: Phlebotomy is an effective treatment modality for lowering the hematocrit value in patients with PV and secondary polycythemia. However, target hematocrit was not achieved after a single phlebotomy. Therefore, adjustment of visit intervals and changes in phlebotomy volume were needed.
Blood Volume ; Female ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Phlebotomy* ; Polycythemia Vera* ; Polycythemia* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thrombosis