Hartleif S.: the biology of the transplanted liver

Dr. Steffen Hartleif was reared and educated in Bremen, one of the city-states in the Hanseatic League, famous for maritime trade; the son of a town and a culture that turned their backs on the land and opened their arms and hearts to the sea. Rejecting this proud heritage, he fled to southwestern Germany for medical education—almost as far from saltwater as a German can go—and has stayed there, working in the hospitals and clinics of Tübingen and that city’s medical university. His scientific contributions have been related to pediatric hepatology, especially to the biology of the transplanted liver. Today, he asks us to consider:What is the prevalence of graft fibrosis in protocol biopsies in patients transplanted in childhood? How does fibrosis affect graft and patient survival?Should immunosuppressive therapy protocols be altered in liver-transplanted children?Are there alternative immunomodulatory concepts for children receiving a transplanted liver?He offers three articles to assist us in coming to grips with these issues. Will his perspective resonate with yours?LiteratureHartleif S et al. Outcomes of pediatric identical living-donor liver and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Pediatr Transplant 2016 Nov; 20(7):888-897. DOI: 10.1111/petr.12725. Epub 2016 May 30. PMID: 27241476 Hartleif S et al. Safety and tolerance of donor-derived mesenchymal stem cells in pediatric living-donor liver transplantation: The MYSTEP1 study. Stem Cells Int 2017; 2017:2352954. DOI: 10.1155/2017/2352954. Epub 2017 Jun 27. PMID: 28740511. PMCID: PMC5504958 Hartleif S et al. Long-term outcome of asymptomatic patients with graft fibrosis in protocol biopsies after pediatric liver transplantation. Transplantation 2023 Nov 1; 107(11):2394-2405. DOI: 10.1097/TP.0000000000004603. Epub 2023 Oct 21. PMID: 37143195 Dr. Hartleif favourite song: Komet -  Apache 207 and Udo Lindenberg https://open.spotify.com/track/7oQepKHmXDaPC3rgeLRvQu?si=48b00537429940bb ESPGHAN favourite Songs can be found on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YIHKjxITLEm9XNyHyypTo