T lymphocyte responses to infections in kidney transplant recipients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessment of an assay to quantify T lymphocyte responses to viral antigenic peptides in renal transplant recipients with a view to a prognostic tool to quantify the risk of opportunistic infection
IRAS ID
177072
Contact name
Simon Ball
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The most important complications of allogeneic kidney transplantation result from infection because powerful immunosuppressive therapy is needed to prevent rejection. The response to this has been the use of more immunosuppression with a likely consequence being increased opportunistic infection.In principle identifying patients at increased risk of opportunistic infections provides a counter-point to quantifying the risk of alloimmune injury. Indeed because the various factors implicated in outcome following transplantation not only compete but interact, balancing potential benefits and risks of immunosuppression in a personalised algorithm may have greater power than can be delivered by simply greater precision in the quantification of alloimmune risk.
This study will analyse the immune responses of renal transplant recipients in these assays, which have so far been only tested in healthy volunteers. It is a proof of principle, which aims simply to measure the frequency distribution of responses in these assays in an immunosuppressed population of renal transplant recipients. The stability of these responses will however also be studied by approaching study participants, 3 to 9 months after the first sample was obtained. Relevant clinical information will also be obtained in order to undertake exploratory analyses that may inform future study design.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0368
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion