• Yong-Hee Kim, Jung-Sik Kim, Il-Hee Yoon, Jun-Seop Shin, Jong-Min Kim, Sang-Joon Kim, and Chung-Gyu Park.
• Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Translational Xenotransplantation Research Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2013 Dec 1; 28 (12): 1729-33.

AbstractNon-human primate studies must be conducted prior to the clinical trial of xenotransplantation. In order to develop clinically applicable immune-modulatory regimen through non-human primate studies, close monitoring of xenogeneic immune responses is required. We adopted multiplex cytokine analysis in assessment of the immune status during the course of pig-to-non-human primate islet transplantation. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of this multiplex cytokine assay in the development of immune-modulatory regimen. Using this assay, we were able to detect different cytokines with a minimal usage of blood samples, and this allowed us to detect various immunological situations in the recipients. Detection of TNF-α surge (347.8 pg/mL) guided us to block TNF-α in the early phase of transplantation. Supportive information for in vivo efficacy of cytokine neutralizing antibody could be speculated by in vitro neutralization assay (1,250 pg/mL → 0 pg/mL). In addition, periodic monitoring of cytokines in peripheral blood allowed the detection of the infection episode prior to other routine assays. These benefits of multiplex cytokine assay may be generally applied to other pre-clinical research, which is a prerequisite for clinical trials.

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