In a mouse model of kidney transplantation, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh discovered a type of immune cell that drives chronic organ transplant failure and discovered pathways that could be therapeutically targeted to enhance patient outcomes. The findings were reported in the journal Science Immunology.
University of Pittsburgh researchers have identified a type of immune cell that drives chronic organ transplant failure in a mouse model of kidney transplantation and uncovered pathways that could be therapeutically targeted to improve patient outcomes.
Researchers discover specific blood biomarker that predicts kidney transplant rejection
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered a blood biomarker that predicts kidney transplant rejection with a lead time of about eight months, which could give doctors an opportunity to intervene and prevent permanent damage.
These results, published today in
Science Translational Medicine, not only identify a warning signal that something is going wrong, but also suggest an existing medication that could be given to these patients to right the course of their long-term recovery.
We can t tell
a priori if a patient is on too much or too little immune suppression-;we don t know until after rejection or an infection has already started. We wanted to find something that would tell us this patient is at risk of rejecting later so that we could change their immunosuppressants up front before the immune system revs up, before scarring and chronic damage is done
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Blood Test for Kidney Rejection Suggests New Treatment
PITTSBURGH– Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered a blood biomarker that predicts kidney transplant rejection with a lead time of about eight months, which could give doctors an opportunity to intervene and prevent permanent damage.
These results, published today in Science Translational Medicine, not only identify a warning signal that something is going wrong, but also suggest an existing medication that could be given to these patients to right the course of their long-term recovery.
“We can’t tell a priori if a patient is on too much or too little immune suppression we don’t know until after rejection or an infection has already started,” said senior author David Rothstein, M.D., the Pittsburgh Steelers Chair in Transplantation and professor of surgery, medicine and immunology at Pitt. “We wanted to find something that would tell us this patient is at risk of