Immunological mechanisms behind treatment-resistant kidney transplant rejection
Official title: Immunological Mechanisms of Treatment-Resistant Kidney Transplant Rejection
Funded at University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh · NIH-11449432 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant explores why certain kidney transplant rejections don’t respond to standard treatments and what immune cells in the graft are driving that resistance.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, United States) |
| Project start | September 4, 2026 |
| Project end | August 31, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $752,017 |
| NIH project number | 1R01AI195667-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11449432 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who have had a kidney transplant and experience rejection, especially those whose rejection has not responded to conventional treatment.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without rejection or those not undergoing biopsy-based analysis may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
The project looks at kidney transplant tissue from patients to understand why some rejections in the first year after transplant are hard to treat. Researchers will use advanced imaging and gene-expression tools to map resident memory T cells in the graft and see how they behave differently in treatment-resistant cases. They will compare samples from patients with treatment-resistant rejection to those whose rejection responded to therapy, linking cell activity and location to outcomes. By studying tissue from large patient groups, the team hopes to uncover new targets to improve graft survival.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could lead to new ways to predict or overcome treatment-resistant rejection, potentially improving long-term kidney graft survival.
How similar studies have gone: Precedents in transplantation research show that tissue-resident immune cells can influence graft outcomes, with emerging data supporting spatial transcriptomics in understanding rejection.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Cherukuri, Aravind — University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
- Study coordinator: Cherukuri, Aravind
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Investigating immune responses in kidney transplant rejection
This study is looking at how certain immune cells in your body might affect the success of kidney transplants, especially if you've had previous infections, to help find better treatments that could reduce the need for long-term medication after surgery.
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Investigating T cells involved in kidney transplant rejection
This study is looking at how certain immune cells called CD8+ T cells play a role in kidney transplant rejection, especially in patients who have had past infections, to help find better ways to prevent rejection and improve transplant success.
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Using a new type of immune cell therapy to prevent and treat kidney transplant rejection
This study is exploring a new type of immune cell that could help prevent kidney transplant rejection by stopping harmful antibodies, and it's designed for people who have received a kidney transplant and want to improve their chances of success.
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Understanding how BK virus links infection to kidney transplant rejection
This project looks at how BK polyomavirus reactivation affects kidney transplant patients and aims to use pre-transplant T cell information to tailor immunosuppression and monitoring.
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Microbial clues to diagnose and predict infections in kidney transplant patients
A patient-focused project will look for microbial biomarkers in stool, blood, and urine to help doctors predict and diagnose infections in people who have had a kidney transplant.
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Complement-Bound Exosomes and Kidney Transplant Immunity
This project studies how kidney transplant injury and rejection happen after surgery and whether blocking certain immune pathways during organ preservation could improve transplant outcomes.
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.