TWO Study: Treg Cell Therapy Trial v1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    The TWO Study: Transplantation Without Over-immunosuppression. A Phase IIb Trial of Regulatory T Cells in Renal Transplantation.

  • IRAS ID

    227287

  • Contact name

    Fadi Issa

  • Contact email

    fadi.issa@nds.ox.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Oxford

  • Eudract number

    2017-001421-41

  • ISRCTN Number

    ISRCTN11038572

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    8 years, 2 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Patients receiving solid organ transplants must be maintained on drugs that suppress the immune system in order to prevent the immune system from rejecting the transplant. These medicines are highly efficacious, with one-year kidney transplant survival in the UK being >95%. However long term outcomes are significantly limited by the serious and life-threatening side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs, which include enhanced rates of infection, malignancy and cardiovascular and metabolic disease such as heart attacks and diabetes. Long term maintenance on immunosuppressive drugs together with treatment of the unwanted side effects is a huge burden not only for the patient but also for the healthcare system, in terms of resource allocation and expenditure. Thus a major goal of future transplantation is to find ways to reduce the amount of immunosuppressive drugs used, whilst protecting the the kidney transplant from immune system damage.
    Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a subset of white blood cells that act to prevent autoimmune disease and to limit an ‘overshoot’ of normal immune responses to viruses. A promising approach is to use the regulatory ability of these cells to suppress the immune response causing rejection of the transplanted kidney. Having proven the safety and feasibility of Treg-based immunotherapy in the ONE Study (trial identifier: ONETreg1; EudraCT number: 2013-002099-42, co-sponsored by King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, REC number 13/SC/0568); the TWO Study aims to demonstrate the efficacy of this treatment, with the goal of allowing reduction of immunosuppression to a single drug by 6-months post-transplantation.

  • REC name

    South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/SC/0054

  • Date of REC Opinion

    11 May 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion