Kidney Research UK is funding the development of a new laboratory model designed to help researchers understand why kidney transplants are rejected and identify potential ways to detect the problem earlier.
Dr Laura Denby, from the University of Edinburgh, has received a £110,000 Professor Michael Nicholson PhD studentship grant, funded by Kidney Research UK and the Stoneygate Trust, to develop the model.
The research will use a kidney transplant-on-a-chip system containing different types of kidney cells grown on small chips with microscopic channels. These channels will carry fluids designed to mimic the movement of blood and urine through the kidney.
The model will also include immune cells, allowing researchers to study how they interact with kidney cells during transplant rejection. Understanding these interactions could help explain the processes that lead to damage and failure of transplanted organs.
Kidney transplants can significantly improve the lives of people with kidney failure, but rejection remains a major challenge. It occurs when the recipient’s immune system recognises the transplanted organ as foreign and attacks it, despite medication designed to prevent this response.
Dr Denby and her team will also investigate microRNAs, or miRNAs, which are small molecules involved in regulating gene activity.
Previous research by the team found that certain miRNAs in white blood cells increase in urine when the kidney is injured. However, researchers currently have information about only a limited number of these molecules.
The project will examine kidney biopsy samples from patients who have experienced transplant rejection to identify which miRNAs are more active during the process. The researchers will then use the kidney-on-a-chip model to investigate how white blood cells behave during rejection and which miRNAs are associated with these changes.
Verici Dx Plc (LON:VRCI) is developing a complementary suite of proprietary, leading-edge tests forming a kidney transplant diagnostics platform for personalised patient and organ response risk to assist clinicians in medical management for improved patient outcomes.
