Clinical Research Directory

GRAfT 2.0. A Multimodal Prospective Approach to Define the Mechanisms and Clinical Features of Acute and Chronic Rejection in Lung Transplantation

Background: Lung transplants can save lives, but the procedure has risks. Some people develop donor-specific antibodies (DSA) after the procedure-that is, their bodies create proteins that treat the new lungs as foreign and mount an immune response against them. This is called rejection. But not everyone who has a transplant develops DSA, and not everyone who has DSA develops rejection. Researchers want to understand why. Objective: To collect data to try to find out why some people develop rejection after lung transplants while others do not. Eligibility: People aged 18 to 75 years who have undergone or may undergo a lung transplant. Design: Participants will have clinic visits every 3 to 6 months for up to 4 years. Some visits might require an overnight stay. Each visit will include multiple tests and procedures: Physical exam with blood and urine tests. Some blood will be used for genetic testing. Imaging scans. Participants will have 2 types of scan to get images of their lungs. For one, they will have a contrast agent given through a tube inserted into a vein. Six-minute walk test. Participants will walk back and forth in a hallway at their own pace. Researchers will check on how their body responds. Lung function test. Participants will breathe into a tube connected to a machine. Two other tests are optional: Bronchoscopy with washings (lavage). A long tube with a light will be threaded down through the participant s nose or mouth and into their lungs. Endomicroscopy. During the bronchoscopy a tiny camera may be used to take pictures inside the lungs.

The Role of the Opioid System in Placebo Effects on Pain and Social Rejection

The current study probes the involvement of the opioid system in placebo effects on social pain, using the opioid antagonist naloxone. 60 participants who recently experienced an unwanted breakup will experience rejection-related stimuli and receive painful heat and pressure stimuli during fMRI scanning. Participants will be randomized to receive either a naloxone or saline nasal spray, and be informed that the spray is either saline, or an effective pain and negative emotion reducing agent.

TTV-based mAnagement Of Long-term ImmunosuppreSsion in Kidney Transplantation

Long-term outcomes in kidney transplantation remain a significant challenge, as complications such as donor-specific antibodies (DSA), antibody-mediated rejection, infections, and cancer increasingly threaten graft and patient survival over time. The development of non-invasive biomarkers to guide the management of therapeutic immunosuppression beyond the first year post-transplantation is therefore a crucial unmet need. Torque Teno Virus (TTV), a non-pathogenic virus with a high prevalence worldwide, has emerged as a promising biomarker in this context. Its replication inversely reflects immune control by T cells, correlating with the depth of therapeutic immunosuppression. Additionally, its slow replication kinetics make TTV DNAemia a useful marker for evaluating patient adherence to immunosuppressive treatments. The TAOIST study tests whether longitudinal monitoring of TTV DNAemia every three months, starting from the second year after transplantation, can guide the personalization of immunosuppressive therapy. The primary endpoint is the time to the first occurrence of complications linked to inadequate immunosuppression, including dnDSA, biopsy-proven rejection, infection, cancer, or graft loss. Secondary objectives include evaluating the acceptability of TTV DNAemia among healthcare professionals and assessing its cost-effectiveness compared to standard care. An ancillary objective examines the link between TTV DNAemia and the immunosuppressant possession ratio (IPR) to explore its potential as a marker of treatment adherence.

Detection of Circulating Kidney DNA in Kidney Transplant Patients Facing an Episode of Graft Rejection

In France, 3,500 kidney transplants are carried out per year; and 40,000 people succeed in 2019 with a kidney transplant. Despite regular medical monitoring, nearly 30% of transplant patients will develop rejection. Currently, only solid biopsy of the graft makes it possible to establish the diagnosis of graft rejection, and to characterize its cellular origin based on the Banff classification. Several studies have shown the possibility of identifying the tissue origin of DNA circulating in the blood, in healthy subjects, on the basis of the epigenetic properties of circulating DNA. In addition, in kidney transplant subjects, an increase in the quantity of circulating DNA originating from the graft in the blood and urine has been shown as well as an increase in urinary chemokine levels during renal dysfunction (notably dismiss). Thus, the company CGenetix in partnership with INSERM units 1155 and 1151 is developing a method to identify and characterize kidney transplant rejection early, through the detection of epigenetic biomarkers on circulating DNA targeting different fractions of the kidney (glomerular, tubular, peritubular capillary and vascular). The main objective is to study the diagnostic performance of the quantity of DNA of renal origin in kidney transplant patients in the blood and in the urine (expressed in copies/ml) for the diagnosis of type Rejection mediated by kidneys. antibody (ABMR) established by kidney graft biopsy (gold standard) and according to the Banff 2022 classification.