Benjamin Florian Koch

University Hospital Frankfurt · Center for Internal Medicine

Introduction Membranous nephropathy (MN) is one of the commonest causes of nephrotic syndrome. It's either idiopathic (ca. 75%) or secondary (ca. 25%) to malignancy, infection or autoimmune disease. Immune deposits' origin is unknown in idiopathic cases, even though autoantibodies to phospholipase A2 receptor 1 (PLA2R1) have been demonstrated in a...

Background/aims: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Marburg virus (MARV) are among the World Health Organization's top 8 emerging pathogens. Both zoonoses share nonspecific early symptoms, a high lethality rate, and a reduced number of specific treatment options. Therefore, we evaluated extracorporeal virus and glycoprotei...

https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/33/11/2069/5076740

Potent sepsis mediators significantly elevated in septic shock and believed to be significant contributors to endothelial dysfunction are Heparin-binding protein (HBP, Fig. 1), Histone H4 (H4) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein (LBP, Fig. 2). HBP causes endothelial leakage. LBP is necessary for inducing inflammation on e.g. human glomerul...

A novel coronavirus was recently discovered and termed SARS-CoV-2. Human infection can cause coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been rapidly spreading around the globe1,2. SARS-CoV-2 shows some similarities to other coronaviruses. However, treatment options and a cellular understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection are lacking. Here we identi...

Introduction Influenza A virus (IAV) infection can cause the often-lethal acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) of the lung. Concomitantly, acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequently noticed during IAV infection, correlating with an increased mortality. The aim of this study was to elucidate the interaction of IAV with human kidney cells and, the...

Marburg virus, a member of the Filoviridae, is the causative agent of Marburg virus disease (MVD), a hemorrhagic fever with a case fatality rate of up to 90 %. Acute kidney injury is common in MVD and is associated with increased mortality, but its pathogenesis in MVD remains poorly understood. Interestingly, autopsies show the presence of viral pr...

Background: Since 2013, heater-cooler unit (HCU) associated M. chimaera infections linked to a global outbreak have been described. These infections were characterised by high morbidity and mortality due to delayed diagnosis, as well as challenges in antimycobacterial and surgical therapy. Objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics...

Inflammation is intimately involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease. Inhibition of SGLT-2 by a specific class of drugs, gliflozins, has been shown to reduce inflammation and attenuate the progression of diabetic nephropathy, in addition to its main effect of inhibiting renal glucose reabsorption. We used highly purified human renal p...

Background The factors driving the late phase of COVID-19 are still poorly understood. However, autoimmunity is an evolving theme in COVID-19’s pathogenesis. Additionally, deregulation of human retroelements (RE) is found in many viral infections, and has also been reported in COVID-19. Results Unexpectedly, coronaviruses (CoV) – including SARS-Co...

Background Bacterial burden as well as duration of bacteremia influence the outcome of patients with bloodstream infections. Promptly decreasing bacterial load in the blood by using extracorporeal devices in addition to anti-infective therapy has recently been explored. Preclinical studies with the Seraph® 100 Microbind® Affinity Blood Filter (Sera...

Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by M. tuberculosis complex (MTB) and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is its classical manifestation. However, in some regions of the world, extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) seems to be more frequent. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of all TB patients treated at University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany,...

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells and their derivates are the most promising cell source for cell therapies in regenerative medicine. The application of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as cell-free therapeuticals requires particles with a maximum regenerative capability to enhance tissue and organ regeneration. The cargo of mRNA and microRNA (miR) in EVs...

Acute kidney injury is associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients. However, host cell changes underlying infection of renal cells with SARS-CoV-2 remain unknown and prevent understanding of the molecular mechanisms that may contribute to renal pathology. Here, we carried out quantitative translatome and whole-cell proteomics analyses of primary...

The long-term effect of protection by two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients receiving chronic intermittent hemodialysis (CIHD) is an urging question. We investigated the humoral and cellular immune response of 42 CIHD patients who had received two doses of SARSCoV-2 vaccine, and again after a booster vaccine with mRNA-1273 six months late...

Background: The outcome of patients with bacteremia depends on both, the bacterial burden as well as the duration of bacteremia. Promptly decreasing bacterial load in the blood by using extracorporeal devices in addition to anti-infective therapy has recently been explored. Preclinical studies with Seraph® 100 Microbind® Affinity Blood Filter (Sera...

Background The factors driving the late phase of COVID-19 are still poorly understood. However, autoimmunity is an evolving theme in COVID-19’s pathogenesis. Additionally, deregulation of human retroelements (RE) is found in many viral infections, and has also been reported in COVID-19. Methods The relationship of coronaviruses (CoV) to RE was exp...

Introduction Mycobacterium genavense is a fastidious slow growing mycobacterium (SGM) that causes disseminated infections in immunocompromised hosts. It has been described in HIV-positive individuals and increasingly in patients without HIV. The infections are difficult to treat and the optimal antimycobacterial regimen is still unknown. Methods A...

Zielstellung Ein signifikanter Anteil von COVID-19 Patienten weist Anomalien der Nierenfunktion bis hin zu Nephritiden oder akutem Nierenversagen (ANV) auf (1). Retrospektive Studien berichten von einer hohen ANV-Inzidenz bei kritischen Krankheitsverläufen (bis zu 78% (2)). Die Pathogenitätsdeterminanten des Nierenversagens bei COVID-19 auf molekul...

The kidneys play a vital role in the basic physiological functions of the body [...]

Cell-free therapy using extracellular vesicles (EVs) from adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (ASCs) seems to be a safe and effective therapeutic option to support tissue and organ regeneration. The application of EVs requires particles with a maximum regenerative capability and hypoxic culture conditions as an in vitro preconditioning r...

COVID-19 and chronic dialysis patients make a particular dangerous relationship. Underlying medical conditions and extensive interactions with the health care system predispose this population to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We report on the successful application of protective measures taken and present r...

A novel coronavirus was recently discovered and termed SARS-CoV-2. Human infection can cause coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), for which, at this point, over 80,000 cases resulting in over 2,500 deaths have been reported in over 40 countries. SARS-CoV-2 shows some similarities to other coronaviruses. However, treatment options and a cellular und...

Damage to kidney cells can occur due to a variety of ischemic and toxic insults and leads to inflammation and cell death, which can result in acute kidney injury (AKI) [...]

Creatinine and proteinuria are used to monitor kidney transplant patients. However, renal biopsies are needed to diagnose renal graft rejection. Here, we assessed whether the quantification of different urinary cells would allow non-invasive detection of rejection. Urinary cell numbers of CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, monocytes/macrophages, tubular epit...

Gliflozins are inhibitors of the renal proximal tubular sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2), that inhibit reabsorption of urinary glucose and they are able to reduce hyperglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes. A renoprotective function of gliflozins has been proven in diabetic nephropathy, but harmful side effects on the kidney have also b...

The thrombopoietin receptor agonist eltrombopag was successfully used against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-associated thrombocytopenia refractory to immunomodulatory and antiviral drugs. These effects were ascribed to the effects of eltrombopag on megakaryocytes. Here, we tested whether eltrombopag may also exert direct antiviral effects. Therapeut...

Multiple preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate the potential of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) to support organ and tissue regeneration. Besides transplantation of cellular MSC grafts, conditioned media from MSC cultures or extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from MSCs show similar regenerative effects. In vitro pretreatment of MSCs...

The thrombopoietin receptor agonist eltrombopag was successfully used against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-associated thrombocytopenia refractory to immunomodulatory and antiviral drugs. These effects were ascribed to effects of eltrombopag on megakaryocytes. Here, we tested whether eltrombopag may also exert direct antiviral effects. Therapeutic e...

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are immature multipotent cells, which represent a rare population in the perivascular niche within nearly all tissues. The most abundant source to isolate MSCs is adipose tissue. Currently, perirenal adipose tissue is rarely described as the source of MSCs. MSCs were isolated from perirenal adipose tissue (prAS...

Fibrose als Folge chronischer Entzündungen stellt die Endstrecke zahlreicher Erkrankungen dar. Auslösend sind Noxen, z.B. persistierende virale Infektionen. Über Toll-like Rezeptoren (TLR) wirken virale Hüll- oder Strukturproteine inflammatorisch. Dies gilt möglicherweise auch für Proteine humaner endogener Retroviren (HERV). HERV machen ca. 8% des...

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists have beneficial effects on left ventricular remodeling, cardiac fibrosis, and arrhythmia in heart failure, but efficacy and safety in dialysis patients is less clear. We evaluated the effect of spironolactone on left ventricular mass (LVM), an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, in...

Stem cell-based therapies require cells with a maximum regenerative capacity in order to support regeneration after tissue injury and organ failure. Optimization of this regenerative potential of mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSC) or their conditioned medium by in vitro preconditioning regimens are considered to be a promising strategy to improve...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly recognized as important mediators of intercellular communication. In this study, we aimed to further characterize the role of macrophage-derived EVs in immune responses against hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the potential of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to modulate this modality of innate immunity....

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is an acute febrile illness with a case fatality rate of about 50% (25-90% in past outbreaks, WHO 2016). Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in EVD, arising in about 50% of cases; it is associated with a fatal outcome. Also it is known that proteinuric AKI starts already in EVD stage 1, i.e. without prerenal conditions. Fi...

In the case of life-threatening viral diseases, viral load is associated with mortality. A new and innovative therapeutic approach is the reduction of viral load by extracorporeal elimination without simultaneously weakening the immune system by removing specific antibodies. Basis of this therapy is a modified plasma filter coated with a lectin der...

Management of dialysis patients with valvular heart disease waitlisted for kidney transplantation is challenging. Development of severe aortic valve stenosis can lead to the exclusion from the transplant program or even death while on the waiting list. In dialysis patients, surgical aortic valve replacement is associated with a high perioperative r...

Opportunistic infections in the immunocompromised are associated with high morbidity and mortality, and infrequently nocardiosis belongs to them. The causative agents are gram-positive, aerobic actinomycetes that are present in our environment. A common trigger for nocardiosis is immunodeficiency, for example following rejection therapy or CMV infe...

In severe viral diseases viraemia is associated with unfavorable outcome. Additionally enveloped viruses like Ebola, SARS, HIV and Hepatitis B/C are facilitating many of their destructive features, especially immune evasion, by shedding and secreting glycoproteins (GP). In October 2014 we treated a patient with severe Ebola Virus disease (EVD) caus...

Enveloped viruses like Ebola, SARS, HIV and Influenza have been shown to shed and secret glycoproteins (GP) (Cook et al.). Immune evasion is enhanced by GP secreted and shed into circulation directly from Ebola infected cells. Soluble GP likely act as decoys in neutralizing antibodies (Ansari) and can induce a shift towards non-neutralizing antibod...

Introduction and Aims: Enveloped viruses like Ebola, SARS, HIV and Influenza are facilitating many of their destructive features by shedding and secreting glycoproteins (GP). In October 2014 a patient with a Ebola Zaire strain (EBOV) infection was treated in our hospital. In order to reduce EBOV viral and GP load we performed a Lectin Affinity Plas...

Therapeutic options for Ebola virus disease (EVD) are currently limited to: (1) best supportive care, and (2) evolving virus-specific therapies resulting from decades of analyzing one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Current EVD-specific therapies attempt to either interfere with the earliest steps of viral replication or to elicit a strong immun...

Therapeutic options for Ebola virus disease (EVD) are currently limited to (1) best supportive care, and (2) evolving virus-specific therapies, resulting from decades of analyzing one of the world's deadliest diseases. Supportive care ranges from oral or intravenous rehydration therapy and anti-emetics in developing countries to much more extensive...

The Tal1 transcription factor is essential for the development of the hematopoietic system and plays a role during definitive erythropoiesis in the adult. Despite the importance of Tal1 in erythropoiesis, only a small number of erythroid differentiation target genes are known. A chromatin precipitation and cloning approach was established to uncove...

The Tal1 transcription factor is essential for the development of the hematopoietic system and plays a role during definitive erythropoiesis in the adult. Despite the importance of Tal1 in erythropoiesis, only a small number of erythroid differentiation target genes are known. A chromatin precipitation and cloning approach was established to uncove...