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🧬 A major step forward in kidney transplant care 🧬

Antibody-mediated rejection of organ transplants was first recognized by U of A investigators 35 years ago¹ and is now recognized as a major cause of failure of kidney and heart transplants. It has been very difficult to treat but a recent trial involving U of A researchers showed promising effects for a novel therapy (“felzartamab”) for antibody-mediated rejection of kidney transplants in a randomized controlled trial². We now examined the molecular response of patients receiving this therapy using gene expression measurements of kidney transplant biopsies³. We found that this new therapy suppresses the molecular signal of antibody-mediated rejection in every patient who had active rejection and has the potential to prevent the onset of progressive kidney failure. This finding is very exciting for the transplant community, as it provides hope for a new novel therapy that can extend the life of patients with kidney transplants.

We're excited to share this work with collaborators from:

• Medical University of Vienna: Georg A. Böhmig, Katharina A Mayer
• University Hospital Basel: Matthias Diebold
• Hannover Medical School: Christian Hinze
• Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin: Eva Schrezenmeier, Klemens Budde
• Chronix Biomedical GmbH: Ekkehard Schütz
• Human Immunology Biosciences, Inc. (HI-Bio): Uptal D Patel
• ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥: Patrick Gauthier, Martina Mackova, Jessica Chang, Philip Halloran

📖 References:
1.         Halloran, P.F., et al. The significance of the anti-class I antibody response. I. Clinical and pathologic features of anti-class I-mediated rejection. Transplantation 49, 85-91 (1990).
2.         Mayer, K.A., et al. A Randomized Phase 2 Trial of Felzartamab in Antibody-Mediated Rejection. N Engl J Med 391, 122-132 (2024).
3.         Diebold, M., et al. Effect of felzartamab anti-CD38 treatment on the molecular phenotype of antibody-mediated rejection in kidney transplant biopsies. Nature Medicine In press.(2024).

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