Project description:Experiments in preclinical transplant models have indicated that preoperative administration of donor-derived M regs to transplant recipients may promote beneficial regulatory responses to a subsequent allograft. This contention is supported by results from the TAIC-I and –II clinical studies, which demonstrated that infusion of a crude cell preparation containing regulatory macrophages was both safe and could promote a state of donor-specific hyporesponsiveness. In an extension of this work, two patients were treated with donor-derived M regs prior to receiving a living-donor kidney transplant. Keywords: Classification of clinical samples
Project description:Human regulatory macrophages (Mreg) have shown early clinical promise as a cell-based, adjunct immunosuppressive therapy in solid organ transplantation. It is hypothesised that recipient CD4+ T cell responses are actively regulated through direct allorecognition of donor-derived Mregs. Here we show that human Mregs convert allogeneic CD4+ T cells to IL-10-producing, TIGIT+ FoxP3+ induced regulatory T cells that non-specifically suppress bystander T cells and inhibit dendritic cell maturation. Differentiation of Mreg-induced Tregs (miTregs) relies on multiple, non-redundant mechanisms that are not exclusive to interaction of Mregs and T cells, including signals mediated by indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, TGF-β, retinoic acid, Notch and progestagen-associated endometrial protein. Preoperative administration of donor-derived Mregs to living-donor kidney transplant recipients results in an acute increase in circulating TIGIT+ Tregs. These results suggest a feed-forward mechanism by which Mreg treatment promotes allograft acceptance through rapid induction of direct pathway Tregs.
Project description:A preoperative short-term diet combining calorie and protein restriction diet given during five days before kidney donation and transplantation improves kidney outcome in live kidney donors and kidney transplant recipients, which shows that the benefits of dietary restriction on stress resistance can be induced rapidly in humans, and may be used for clinically relevant endpoints.
Project description:Donor organ shortage, growing waiting lists and organ discard rates are key problems in kidney transplantation. Donor organ quality is a critical factor determining post-transplant graft outcomes. However, organ quality is difficult to predict. Balancing the use of marginal donors without affecting outcomes is a main issue in the transplant field. The decision of acceptance of a kidney organ for transplantation is mainly based on donor organ biopsy findings, even though there are recognized limitations. The lack of better measures of organ quality at the time of transplantation as a predictor of performance graft outcome is a serious clinical challenge. Herein, we propose the use of a limited set of genes that captures intrinsic biology of kidney donor organs to improve available scoring systems. We studied gene expression in 192 deceased donor kidney biopsies and evaluated short-term outcomes which included delayed graft function and eGFR (high versus low) at 24 months for 168 kidney transplant recipients.
Project description:Antibody-mediated rejection, caused by antibodies against the donor human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules plays a fundamental role in graft rejection in transplantation. Most significant is transplant patients who generate antibodies against the donor HLA-DQ have the highest risk of rejection. In this study, we investigated the role of indirect CD4 T cell epitopes in the formation of donor-specific antibodies (DSA). Using antigen mapping techniques in kidney and heart transplant recipients with HLA-DQ DSA, we identified two polymorphic hotspots in the HLA-DQ gene that generated alloreactive CD4 T cell responses. To study the functional significance of indirect CD4 T cells, we first mapped epitopes recognised by H2-Kb C57Bl6 mice against a skin graft from H2-Kd Balb/c mice. We identified a CD4 T cell epitope, specific for amino acids 287-301 derived from the H2-Kd protein, that generated tetramer-binding Kd287+ CD4 T cells during rejection. Importantly, the transfer of Kd287+ CD4 T cells into T cell-deficient mice was sufficient to drive an antibody response against the donor H2-Kd molecule. Lastly, we found that administration of systemic high-dose donor H2-Kd peptides combined with CTLA4-Ig reduced the formation of Kd287+ CD4 T cells and diminished DSA formation. Together, these findings demonstrate that the identification of donor antigens indicates the potential for inducing donor-specific immune tolerance in transplantation.
Project description:Being able to identify patients in whom immunological tolerance has been established or is developing would allow an individually tailored approach to post-transplant management of kidney allograft recipients. Ex vivo immunological monitoring was performed on samples from five groups of European renal transplant recipients (“IOT samples”): ten drug-free tolerant recipients who were functionally stable despite remaining immunosuppression-free for more than one year (Tol-DF); also functionally stable patients on minimal immunosuppression (<10 mg/day prednisone, s-LP); stable patients maintained with calcineurin inhibitors (s-CNI); stable patients maintained on CNI-free immunosuppression regimen (s-nCNI); patients showing signs of chronic rejection (CR) and healthy controls (HC). Among the investigation of other biomarkers and bioassays, gene expression profiles were generated on custom Agilent 8x15K 60mer oligonucleotide microarrays (“RISET 2.0”) on the IOT cohort (training set) and on an independent cohort of patients from the ITN (USA) that contained similar groups of patients and included 23 tolerant recipients (“ITN samples”, test set). Set of genes were identified, whose expression on whole blood allowed the identification of 100% of the tolerant recipients in the training set and 84% in the test set. Keywords: classification of clinical samples, tolerance prediction
Project description:Tacrolimus (Tac) is an effective anti-rejection agent in kidney transplantation, but its off-target effects make withdrawal desirable. While studies indicate that Tac can be safely withdrawn in a subset of kidney transplant recipients, immune mechanisms that underlie successful vs. unsuccessful Tac removal are unknown. We performed microarray analyses of PBMC RNA from subjects enrolled in the Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation-09 study in which stable kidney transplant recipients were randomized to Tac withdrawal or maintenance of standard immunosuppression beginning 6-mo post-transplant. Eight of 14 subjects attempted but failed withdrawal, while six developed stable graft function for ≥2 years on mycophenolate mofetil plus prednisone. Whereas failed withdrawal upregulated immune activation genes, successful Tac withdrawal was associated with a distinct, T cell-specific, downregulatory, and pro-apoptotic gene program. Functional analyses suggested stronger donor-reactive immunity in subjects who failed withdrawal without evidence of regulatory T cell dysfunction. Together, our data suggest that successful Tac withdrawal can unleash an active, protective pro-apoptotic T cell program, and provide the foundation for developing strategies to promote this protective immunological phenotype in kidney transplant recipients.
Project description:The CTOT19 cohort (38.2% AA, 44% White) represents a randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy of remicade induction therapy for deceased donor kidney transplant recipients within 2 year followed-up (NCT02495077). With a cohort of 225 patients, the study spanned 2 years to assess the effectiveness of this therapy.
Project description:Porcine anti-human lymphocyte immunoglobulin (pALG) has been used in kidney transplantation, but its impacts on the lymphocyte cell pool remain unclear. We retrospectively analyzed 12 kidney transplant recipients receiving pALG, and additional recipients receiving rabbit anti-human thymocyte immunoglobulin (rATG), basiliximab, or no induction therapy as a comparison group. pALG showed high binding affinity to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after administration, immediately depleting blood lymphocytes; an effect that was weaker than rATG but stronger than basiliximab. Single-cell sequencing analysis showed that pALG mainly influenced T cells and innate immune cells (mononuclear phagocytes and neutrophils). By analyzing immune cell subsets, we found that pALG moderately depleted CD4+T cells, CD8+T cells, regulatory T cells and NKT cells and mildly inhibited dendritic cells. Serum inflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6) were only moderately increased compared with rATG, which might be beneficial in terms of reducing the risk of untoward immune activation. During 3 months of follow-up, we found that all recipients and transplanted kidneys survived and showed good organ function recovery; there were no cases of rejection and a low rate of complications. In conclusion, pALG acts mainly by moderately depleting T cells and is thus a good candidate for induction therapy for kidney transplant recipients. The immunological features of pALG should be exploited for the development of individually-optimized induction therapies based on the needs of the transplant and the immune status of the patient, which is appropriate for non-high-risk recipients.