Helping kidney transplants survive without lifelong immune-suppressing drugs
Targeting innate immunity for induction of robust renal allograft tolerance
This project tries to help people getting a kidney transplant avoid lifelong immune-suppressing drugs by using donor bone marrow plus a new antibody that calms early inflammation.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Massachusetts General Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11321527 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
The team will combine donor-derived bone marrow with a gentler pre-transplant conditioning plan to create short-term mixed blood cell chimerism that can teach the immune system to accept a new kidney. They will add a first-in-class antibody (mAb107) that blocks a inflammation-driving protein on innate immune cells to reduce damage around the time of transplant. Work builds on prior human cases of immunosuppression-free kidney survival after transient chimerism and promising primate results showing less reperfusion injury with the antibody. The goal is to make tolerance more consistent and safer so more patients could keep transplants without long-term drugs.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults who are candidates for kidney transplantation and who can receive or are willing to receive donor-derived bone marrow as part of the transplant protocol would be the ideal participants.
Not a fit: People who are not eligible for donor bone marrow infusion, who have medical conditions that prevent protocol conditioning, or who need a different type of organ transplant may not benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could let kidney transplant recipients avoid long-term immunosuppressive drugs and their side effects while lowering rejection risk.
How similar studies have performed: Related approaches have produced long-term immunosuppression-free kidney graft survival in prior human cases and reduced injury in nonhuman primates, but broader consistency and safety improvements are still needed.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kawai, Tatsuo — Massachusetts General Hospital
- Study coordinator: Kawai, Tatsuo
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.