Jung Pyo Lee

• Seoul National University Hospital

Rubus coreanus has been found to have various health benefits including anti-oxidative effects. In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of water-soluble extract of Rubus coreanus (MN705) in preventing kidney fibrosis in a mouse model of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and in an in vitro model of TGF-β-challenged HK-2 cells. Male C...

Background: Enlargement of the lateral ventricle is observed in dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Objective: The degree of anteroposterior ventricular enlargement and its correlation with clinical and neuropsychological features were investigated in DLB patients. Methods: Forty-eight patients wit...

Introduction Multiciliated cells (MCCs) have been identified in the proximal tubules of patients with kidney disease; however, their clinical significance is unknown. We aimed to investigate whether MCCs are associated with clinical outcomes in patients with glomerular diseases. Methods Between August 2012 and April 2021, 134 patients (including 1...

This study proposes a novel approach for effective genetic sequence representation, focusing on the challenges of compressing and analyzing complex genomic data. We introduce a hybrid architecture that combines Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to generate comprehensive and co...

Podocyte injury and proteinuria in glomerular disease are critical indicators of acute kidney injury progression to chronic kidney disease. Renal mitochondrial dysfunction, mediated by intracellular calcium levels and oxidative stress, is a major contributor to podocyte complications. Despite various strategies targeting mitochondria to improve kid...

Early mortality after hemodialysis (HD) initiation significantly impacts the longevity of HD patients. This study aimed to quantify the effect sizes of risk factors on mortality using various machine learning approaches. A cohort of 3284 HD patients from the CRC-ESRD (2008–2014) was analyzed. Mortality risk models were validated using logistic regr...

Background: Although the relationship between fatty acids (FAs) and the risk of all-cause mortality has been long discussed, there is little evidence about the impact of each FA component on all-cause mortality by kidney function status. Methods: We used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2016. The intake of...

Backgrounds High-intensity statin is recommended for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and ezetimibe is recommended to be added in patients not achieving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets. Moderate-intensity statin plus ezetimibe can reduce LDL-C levels similar to high-intensity statin. The aim of this...

Periodontitis is associated with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Although the coexistence of periodontitis and elevated CRP levels may heighten the risk of mortality, previous studies have not confirmed their synergistic effect. Understanding this interaction is crucial for identifying potential interventions to reduce mortality risk in i...

Background: Cardiovascular disease is an important risk factor for mortality among kidney transplant recipients. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between cardiovascular risk score at kidney transplantation and long-term outcomes of patients. Methods: In this prospective, observational cohort study, we enrolled kidney transp...

Background Ultrafiltration with continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) can be used to manage fluid balance in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). We aimed to assess whether bioimpedance analysis (BIA)-guided volume management was more efficacious than conventional management for achieving estimated euvolemia (e-euvolemia)...

Background: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is a major cause of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The International IgA Nephropathy Prediction Tool (IIgAN-PT) predicts IgAN prognosis, but improvement in the prediction performance using machine learning (ML)-based methods is needed. Methods: We analyzed 4,425 biopsy-confirmed patients with IgA...

The bidirectional effect of hyperuricemia on chronic kidney disease (CKD) underscores the importance of hyperuricemia as a risk factor for CKD. We evaluated the effect of hyperuricemia on the presence and development of CKD after considering genetic background by calculating polygenic risk scores (PRSs). We employed genome-wide association study su...

The relationship between molybdenum and kidney-related disease outcomes, including hyperuricemia, is not well investigated. This study aims to determine whether molybdenum and its antioxidative property are associated with systemic inflammation and kidney-related disease parameters including hyperuricemia. Urinary molybdenum’s epidemiological relat...

The frequency of the apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele and vascular risk factors differs among ethnic groups. We aimed to assess the combined effects of apolipoprotein E ɛ4 and vascular risk factors on brain age in Korean and UK cognitively unimpaired populations. We also aimed to determine the differences in the combined effects between the two populatio...

Genetic factors, lifestyle, and diet have been shown to play important roles in the development of hypertension. Increased salt intake is an important risk factor for hypertension. However, research on the involvement of genetic factors in the relationship between salt intake and hypertension in Asians is lacking. We aimed to investigate the risk o...

Purpose This study aimed to establish baseline morphological and functional data for normal mouse kidneys via a clinical 33 MHz ultra-high-frequency (UHF) transducer, compare the data with the findings from fibrotic mice, and assess correlations between ultrasonography (US) parameters and fibrosis-related markers. Methods This retrospective study...

Background It remains unclear whether the incidence of post-operative acute kidney injury (PO-AKI) has been reduced despite the recent emphasis on its early recognition and prevention in clinical practice. We aimed to investigate the trend in the incidence of PO-AKI and to identify the associated factors affecting its changes. Methods We gathered...

Despite numerous studies on the effect of each dialysis modality on mortality, the issue remains controversial. We investigated the hazard rate of mortality in patients with incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) concerning initial dialysis modality (hemodialysis vs. peritoneal dialysis). Using a nationwide, multicenter, prospective cohort in Sout...

Background and Aims Phthalates are widely used in many consumer products as plasticizer and well known to be detrimental to human health. Phthalates mainly disrupt the endocrine system. Recently, phthalate exposures are revealed to be associated with decreased kidney function and increased albuminuria. Risk perception levels and behavioral patterns...

Background Deep-learning-based brain age estimation using magnetic resonance imaging data has been proposed to identify abnormalities in brain development and the risk of adverse developmental outcomes in the fetal brain. Although saliency and attention activation maps have been used to understand the contribution of different brain regions in dete...

Background Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) stands as the predominant cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease. Its diverse range of manifestations complicates the treatment approach for patients. Although kidney biopsy is considered the gold standard for diagnosis, it lacks precision in predicting the progression of kidney dysfunc...

Background and Purpose To ensure data privacy, the development of defacing processes, which anonymize brain images by obscuring facial features, is crucial. However, the impact of these defacing methods on brain imaging analysis poses significant concern. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of three different defacing methods in automated...

Introduction Kidney transplantation (KT) improves the cardiovascular outcomes of patients with end-stage kidney disease. However, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of premature death and graft loss in KT recipients (KTRs) with diabetes. We evaluated the cardioprotective effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in...

Background The effect of dyslipidemia on kidney disease outcomes has been inconclusive, and it requires further clarification. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of genetic factors on the association between dyslipidemia and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) using polygenic risk score (PRS). Methods We analyzed data from 373,523...

Background Further study is warranted to determine the association between estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or albuminuria and the risk of death from diverse causes. Methods We screened >10 million general health screening examinees who received health examinations conducted in 2009 using the claims database of Korea. After the exclusio...

Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD), impacting long-term outcomes such as mortality and morbidity. Analyzing NHANES data from 1999 through 2016 for adults aged ≥ 20 years, we assessed the mediating effects of anemia biomarkers (hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell distribution width [RDW], and mean corpuscular hemoglobin con...

Background Kidney volume is used as a predictive and therapeutic marker for several clinical conditions. However, there is a lack of large-scale studies examining the relationship between kidney volume and various clinicodemographic factors, including kidney function, body composition and physical performance. Methods In this observational study,...

Background Epidemiologic studies on the effects of long-term exposure to ozone (O3) have shown inconclusive results. It is unclear whether to O3 has an effect on chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigated the effects of O3 on mortality and renal outcome in CKD. Methods We included 61,073 participants and applied Cox proportional hazards models...

Health risks due to climate change are emerging, particularly from high-temperature exposure. The perceived temperature is an equivalent temperature based on the complete heat budget model of the human body. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the effect of perceived temperature on overall mortality among patients with chronic kidney disease. In total,...

Kidney fibrosis is a major mechanism underlying chronic kidney disease (CKD). N ⁶ -methyladenosine (m ⁶ A) RNA methylation is associated with organ fibrosis. We investigated m ⁶ A profile alterations and the inhibitory effect of RNA methylation in kidney fibrosis in vitro (TGF-β-treated HK-2 cells) and in vivo (unilateral ureteral obstruction [UUO]...

Many reports on the development of myocarditis following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination (PCVM) have emerged. However, only a few case studies have investigated endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) results. This study describes the clinicopathologic features of PCVM. We surveyed all hospitalized patients in a single university hospital in Ko...

Purpose/objective(s) Previous deep learning (DL) algorithms for brain metastasis (BM) detection and segmentation have not been commonly used in clinics because they produce false-positive findings, require multiple sequences, and do not reflect physiological properties such as necrosis. The aim of this study was to develop a more clinically favorab...

Background Numerous studies on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are being undertaken, and there is a plethora of high‐quality clinical data and resources for AD in Korea. However, because the resources and data are not thoroughly standardized, they are challenging to use. The Trial Ready Registry (TRR) and Dementia Platform Korea (DPK) technologies were de...

Background Frailty is an aging‐related syndrome of physiological decline, and has been associated with cognitive function. Grip strength, could be used as a marker for frailty and older adult health status. Frailty has been associated with cognitive function. However, its mechanism has not been fully investigated. We aimed to investigate the associ...

Background In the SoUth Korean study to PrEvent cognitive impaiRment and protect BRAIN health through lifestyle intervention in at‐risk elderly people (SUPERBRAIN), we evaluated the impact of a 24‐week facility‐based multidomain intervention (FMI) and home‐based MI (HMI) on white matter integrity. Method Totally, 152 participants, aged 60‐79 years...

Background Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) stands as the predominant cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease. Its diverse range of manifestations complicates the treatment approach for patients. Although kidney biopsy is considered the gold standard for diagnosis, it lacks precision in predicting the progression of kidney dysfunc...

In eukaryotes, a primary protein quality control (PQC) process involves the destruction of conformationally misfolded proteins through the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Because approximately one-third of eukaryotic proteomes fold and assemble within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) before being sent to their destinations, the ER plays a crucial role i...

Despite several studies on the effect of each dialysis modality on mortality, the subject is still controversial. We investigated the hazard rate of mortality for patients with incident end-stage renal disease with respect to initial dialysis modality (hemodialysis vs. peritoneal dialysis). We used a nationwide, multicenter, prospective cohort of p...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is associated with kidney fibrosis. A previous study revealed that periostin (POSTN) contributes to kidney fibrosis. This study examined the role of POSTN in DN. The urinary concentrations of POSTN and TNC increased according to the severity of DN in human samples. Streptozotocin (STZ) was administered after unilateral nep...

Background and objectives Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, it is difficult to assess the contribution of anemia in CKD patients on long-term outcomes, such as mortality and morbidity, because kidney function affects outcomes directly and indirectly. This study evaluated the mediating effect of anemia in the...

Diabetic foot ulcer and diabetic kidney disease are diabetes‐related chronic vascular complications that strongly correlate with high morbidity and mortality. Although metformin potentially confers a wound‐healing advantage, no well‐established clinical evidence supports the benefit of metformin for diabetic foot ulcer. Thus, this study investigate...

In the South Korean study to prevent cognitive impairment and protect BRAIN health through lifestyle intervention in at-risk elderly people (SUPERBRAIN), we evaluated the impact of a 24-week facility-based multidomain intervention (FMI) and home-based MI (HMI) on white matter integrity. Among 152 participants, aged 60–79 years without dementia but...

Background and aim: The causal linkage between primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and kidney function is unexplored despite their potential for long-term detrimental effects on kidney function. Methods: Two-sample summary-level Mendelian randomization (MR) study was conducted to identify the association between PSC and kidney function. The gen...

Background: There is a widespread notion that tobacco smoking controls weight based on the appetite suppressive effect of nicotine. However, the causal relationship between smoking initiation and obesity-related traits in the general population are unclear. Methods: This Mendelian randomization analysis utilized 378 genetic variants associated w...

In tauopathy conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), highly soluble and natively unfolded tau polymerizes into an insoluble filament; however, the mechanistic details of this process remain unclear. In the brains of AD patients, only a minor segment of tau forms β‐helix‐stacked protofilaments, while its flanking regions form disordered fuzzy...

Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is currently the most widely prescribed induction regimen for preventing acute rejection after solid organ transplantation. However, the optimal dose of ATG induction regimen in Asian kidney recipients is unclear. Using the Korean Organ Transplantation Registry, we performed a retrospective cohort study of 4579 adult p...

Background: As a leading cause of chronic kidney disease, clinical demand for noninvasive biomarkers of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) beyond proteinuria is increasing. Metabolomics is a popular method to identify mechanisms and biomarkers. We investigated urinary targeted metabolomics in DKD patients. Methods: We conducted a targeted metabolomic...

Interleukins (ILs), key cytokine family of inflammatory response, are closely associated with kidney function. However, the causal effect of various ILs on kidney function needs further investigation. Here we show two-sample summary-level Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis that examined the causality between serum IL levels and kidney function....

The causal effects of chondroitin, glucosamine, and vitamin/mineral supplement intake on kidney function remain unknown, despite being commonly used. We conducted a two-sample summary-level Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to test for causal associations between regular dietary supplement intake and kidney function. Genetic instruments for cho...

Background and Aims With the global warming, the interest in health risks from the high temperature exposure is growing. The perceived temperature is an equivalent temperature based on a complete heat budget model of the human body. We aimed to analyse the effect of perceived temperature on the overall mortality among patients with chronic kidney d...

Background Various renal abnormalities, including hydronephrosis, polycystic kidney disease, and hydroureter, have been reported, and these abnormalities are present in DiGeorge syndrome, renal dysplasia, and acute kidney failure. Previous studies have shown that various genes are associated with renal abnormalities. However, the major target genes...

Background: Since chronic kidney disease (CKD) is caused by genetic and environmental factors, biomarker development through metabolomic analysis, which reflects gene-derived downstream effects and host adaptation to the environment, is warranted. Methods: We measured the metabolites in urine samples collected from 789 patients at the time of ki...

Chemicals have been identified as a potential risk factor of renal dysfunction. However, studies that consider both multiple chemicals and non-chemical risk factors, such as hypertension, are rare. In this study, we assessed the associations between exposure to several chemicals, including major metals, phthalates, and phenolic compounds, and the a...

Background: The genetically predicted lipid-lowering effect of HMGCR or PCSK9 variant can be used to assess drug proxy effects on kidney function. Methods: Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis-identified HMGCR and PCSK9 genetic variants were used to predict the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol-lowering effects of medications targeting...

Introduction: Selenium is a trace mineral that is commonly included in micronutrient supplements. The effect of selenium on kidney function remains unclear. A genetically predicted micronutrient and its association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) can be used to assess the causal estimates by Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods:...

Background: Recent studies have reported the association between air pollution exposure and reduced kidney function. However, it is unclear whether air pollution is associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI). Objectives: To address this gap in knowledge, we investigated the effect estimates of long-term exposures to fine part...

In tauopathic conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), highly soluble and natively unfolded tau polymerizes into an insoluble filament; however, the mechanistic details of this process are not clear. In AD brains, only a small segment of tau forms -helix-stacked protofilaments, while its flanking regions form disordered fuzzy coats. Here, we d...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is associated with kidney fibrosis. A previous study revealed that periostin (POSTN) contributes to kidney fibrosis. This study examined the role of POSTN in DN. The urinary concentrations of POSTN and TNC increased according to the severity of DN in human samples. Streptozotocin (STZ) was administered after unilateral nep...

Fluid balance is a critical prognostic factor for patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). This study evaluated whether repeated fluid balance monitoring could improve prognosis in this clinical population. This was a multicenter retrospective study that included 784 patients (mean age, 6...

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) in COVID-19 patients is associated with poor prognosis. Characterization of AKI by timing and trajectory and early prediction of AKI progression is required for better preventive management and the prediction of patient outcomes. Methods A total of 858 patients who were hospitalized due to coronavirus disease 2...

Background Interleukins (ILs), key cytokine family of inflammatory response, are closely associated with kidney function. However, the causal effect of various ILs on kidney function needs further investigation. Methods We performed two-sample summary-level mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Genetic variants with strong association with serum...

Depression is a preventable and treatable mental health condition. Therefore, there are important clinical implications for identifying people with the highest mortality risk in a nationally representative sample. This study included 26,207 participants aged ≥18 years from the 2005-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in USA. We in...

Rationale & objective: Metformin has been recommended for some patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. However, the value of metformin in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) with pre-transplant diabetes mellitus (DM) or post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is uncertain. We investigated the clinical effects of metformin in KTRs. Study d...

The spatiotemporal sequestration of misfolded proteins is a mechanism by which cells counterbalance proteome homeostasis upon exposure to various stress stimuli. Chronic inhibition of proteasomes results in a large, juxtanuclear, membrane-less inclusion, known as the aggresome. Although the molecular mechanisms driving its formation, clearance, and...

In tauopathic conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), highly soluble and natively unfolded tau polymerizes into an insoluble filament; however, the mechanistic details of this process are not clear. In AD brains, only a small segment of tau forms -helix-stacked protofilaments, while its flanking regions form disordered fuzzy coats. Here, we d...

Background: Ageing traits and frailty are important health issues in modern medicine. Evidence supporting the causal effects of tobacco smoking on various ageing traits is required. Methods: This study performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis instrumenting 377 genetic variants associated with being an ever-smoker at a genome-wide signific...

Background During the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, population’s mortality has been affected not only by the risk of infection itself, but also through deferred care for other causes and changes in lifestyle. This study aims to investigate excess mortality by cause of death and socio-demographic context during the COVID-19 pandemic...