The current outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has raised great concern worldwide, but its impact on transplant recipients is unknown. We report here the clinical features and therapeutic course of the first reported renal transplant recipient with confirmed COVID‐19 pneumonia. This is a 52‐year‐old man who received kidney transplantation 12 years ago. His overall clinical characteristics (symptoms, laboratory examinations, and chest CT) were similar to those of non‐transplanted COVID‐19 patients. Following a treatment regimen consisting of reduced immunosuppressant use and low dose methylprednisolone‐based therapy, the COVID‐19 pneumonia in this long‐term immunosuppressive patient was successfully recovered. This effectively treated case has reference value for the future treatment of other transplant patients with COVID‐19 pneumonia.

To date, organ transplantation remains an effective method for treating end-stage diseases of various organs. In recent years, despite the continuous development of organ transplantation technology, a variety of problems restricting its progress have emerged one after another, and the shortage of donors is at the top of the list. Bioprinting is a very useful tool that has huge application potential in many fields of life science and biotechnology, among which its use in medicine occupies a large area. With the development of bioprinting, advances in medicine have focused on printing cells and tissues for tissue regeneration and reconstruction of viable human organs, such as the heart, kidneys, and bones. In recent years, with the development of organ transplantation, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has played an increasingly important role in this field, giving rise to many unsolved problems, including a shortage of organ donors. This review respectively introduces the development of 3D bioprinting as well as its working principles and main applications in the medical field, especially in the applications, and advancements and challenges of 3D bioprinting in organ transplantation. With the continuous update and progress of printing technology and its deeper integration with the medical field, many obstacles will have new solutions, including tissue repair and regeneration, organ reconstruction, etc., especially in the field of organ transplantation. 3D printing technology will provide a better solution to the problem of donor shortage.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spreads rapidly and may be an increasing challenge for transplant community. Clinical data on COVID-19 infection in transplant population is very limited. Herein we presented the clinical course and outcome of a 50-year-old male post liver transplantation who contracted COVID-19, with subsequent infection of his wife. The process of illness was representative. A therapeutic regime with temporary immunosuppression withdrawal and systemic low-dose corticosteroid as principle was involved in the management of the patient which made him recover from severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus is still spreading, finding out the initial hits of viral infection is important to minimize the mild/moderate population, prevent disease aggravation and organs dysfunction. Objective: We investigated COVID-19 patients with different serum calcium levels. Design: We checked the serum calcium level of the patients based on days after symptom onset as well as the severity of COVID-19. We also checked multiorgan injuries and immune cytokines level in their blood. Results: Both mild/moderate and severe critical cases we observed showed low calcium level in the early stage of viral infection, while the severe/critical cases showed significant lower calcium level than mild/moderate cases in the early stage. We also found that low calcium level related to severe/critical multiorgan injuries especially in the mild/moderate population. Proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 also correlated to calcium change in both mild/moderate and severe/critical cases. Conclusions: Our finding indicates that calcium balance is a primal hit of COVID-19 and a biomarker of clinical severity at the beginning of symptom onset. Calcium is closely associated with virus-associated multiple organ injuries and the increase in inflammatory cytokines. Our results provide a new, important indicator of COVID-19 patients from mild/moderate to severe/critical: serum calcium.

Robust ERK1/2 activity, which frequently results from KRAS mutation, invariably occurs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, direct interference of KRAS signaling has not led to clinically successful drugs. Correct localization of RAF is regulated by the scaffold protein prohibitin (PHB) that ensures the spatial organization between RAS and RAF in plasma membranes, thus leading to activation of downstream effectors. PHB expression was analyzed in human pancreatic cancer cell lines, normal pancreas, and PDAC tissue. Furthermore, genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of PHB was performed to determine its role in growth, migration, and signaling of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The level of PHB expression was crucial for maintenance of oncogenic ERK-driven pancreatic tumorigenesis. Additionally, rocaglamide (RocA), a small molecular inhibitor, selectively bound to PHB with nanomolar affinity to disrupt the PHB-CRAF interaction by altering its localization to the plasma membrane. Consequently, there was an impairment of oncogenic RAS-ERK signaling, thereby blocking in vitro and in vivo growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells that were addicted to RAS-ERK signaling. More importantly, RocA treatment resulted in a significant increase of the lifespan of tumor-bearing mice without any detectable toxicity. Blockade of the PHB scaffold-CRAF kinase interaction, which is distinct from direct kinase inhibition, may be a new therapeutic strategy to target oncogenic ERK-driven pancreatic cancer.