Immune Monitoring and Assay Development in Organ Transplant Recipients

Launched by EMORY UNIVERSITY · Jan 24, 2011

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is focused on understanding how organ transplant patients respond to different treatments and medications. The researchers aim to create a detailed collection of samples, including blood, urine, and biopsy tissue, from both transplant recipients and healthy volunteers. By studying these samples, the team hopes to learn how the immune system reacts to immunosuppressive drugs, which are used to help prevent the body from rejecting a new organ. This important research could lead to more personalized and effective treatments for transplant patients, ultimately improving their health and reducing side effects.

To participate in this study, you need to be either a recipient of or a candidate for an organ transplant, or a healthy volunteer without serious health issues. Participants will be asked to provide blood, urine, and biopsy samples, but this will not affect their medical treatment. The samples will be used for research only, and the results will not change anyone's current treatment plan. If there are extra samples, they may be stored for future research. This trial is currently recruiting participants, and it's a step towards finding the best medication combinations for each individual to ensure their new organ continues to function well.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Recipients of or candidates for organ transplantation or organ donors for recipients under evaluation at Emory University or CHOA
• • Normal volunteers to include individuals without any known end-stage organ disease who are not on any immunosuppressive medication, and individuals with conditions requiring immunosuppression (i.e. dermatological diseases) that do not require transplant therapies
• • Ability to understand the purposes and risks of the study and willingly give written informed consent, or in the case of minors, ability to give minor assent (children older than 5 years of age), in conjunction with written guardian consent
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Patients who fail to meet the criteria for transplantation or post-transplant follow-up by Emory or Children's Healthcare of Atlanta physicians
• • Any condition that, in the opinion of the attending physician, would place the patient at undue risk by participating. Specific conditions include but are not limited to anemia prohibitive of phlebotomy, coagulopathy or technical considerations that would prevent acquisition of sufficient tissue on biopsy for clinical use, or medical urgency preventing timely administration of the consenting process.