Бенджамин Дулкен, доктор медицины, доктор философии.

Премия за пилотное исследование
50,000 XNUMX долларов США за год

Университет Вашингтона

Spatial analysis of the rejection microenvironment and identification of novel tissue markers for rejection

Liver transplantation is a life-saving treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease, but rejection of the transplanted organ remains a major cause of graft loss and patient suffering. Diagnosing rejection from a liver biopsy is often difficult because rejection can look similar to other conditions that affect a transplanted liver, including recurrent autoimmune hepatitis, bile duct obstruction, and infection. Distinguishing rejection from infection is especially critical, because the standard treatment for rejection—increasing immunosuppression—can dangerously worsen an undiagnosed infection. In this project, we will apply single-cell spatial transcriptomics (10x Xenium) to liver biopsies from transplant patients with rejection and other common allograft injuries. This cutting-edge technology measures the activity of thousands of genes inside individual cells while preserving their location in the tissue, providing an unprecedented map of what is happening during rejection. The work has three goals: (1) define the spatial cellular composition of liver rejection, (2) identify cell-cell interactions that are unique to rejection, and (3) discover new tissue markers that distinguish rejection from other injuries. The resulting markers will be validated on an independent set of biopsies and translated into stains pathologists can use in everyday practice. Better diagnosis of rejection will enable safer, more confident treatment decisions, reduce unnecessary immunosuppression, and ultimately help protect the long-term function of life-saving transplanted livers.. Please let us know if you would like to submit an amended version for our website.