RESEARCH
RESEARCH & EDUCATION
The UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute maintains a commitment to research that is evidenced by participation in multiple studies funded by the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) as well as private industry . To date , the NIH funding is at more than $ 8.6 million in studies led by or involving UAB transplant faculty . A few of our research efforts are summarized below .
XENOTRANSPLANTATION Despite the extraordinary steps the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute has taken to increase the availability of donor organs , demand continues to outpace the supply . We hope to overcome this challenge through our groundbreaking Xenotransplantation Program , launched in 2016 with a $ 19.5 million , five-year grant from United Therapeutics Corp . We expect to conduct the first clinical trial focused on cross-species ( pigto-human ) kidney transplants in the next few years .
HIV + TRANSPLANTATION THE HOPE ACT In late 2016 , UAB became the fourth hospital in the nation and the first in the southeast to perform an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant . UAB is one of just 17 approved to do so out of the 272 kidney transplant centers in the United States . And , UAB joins Johns Hopkins University , Mount Sinai , and the University of California-San Francisco as the other U . S . transplant centers approved to perform HIV-positive kidney or liver transplants .
These efforts stem from the HIV Organ Policy Equity ( HOPE ) Act , which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2013 and enabled HIVpositive individuals to be organ donors upon death . The transplants are conducted under approved research protocols designed to evaluate the feasibility , effectiveness , and safety of kidney and liver transplants . The law was implemented in late 2015 , and the first two transplants performed under its provisions were performed in 2016 .
CCR5 STUDY UAB is collaborating with the University of California , San Francisco , in a study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a CCR5 inhibitor called maraviroc in HIV-infected adults who have received a kidney transplant . UAB is one of only five sites participating in this NIH- funded study , which seeks to determine whether the drug has anti-rejection properties . UAB is one of only 17 U . S . hospitals that performs HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplants , and we hope to soon expand that distinction to include liver transplants as well .
HIGHLIGHTS
• UAB physician researchers were awarded a multicenter grant from the NIH National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases APOL1 Long-Term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network ( APOLLO ). It was received by UAB transplant nephrologist Bruce A . Julian , MD , and UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute Director Jayme Locke , MD . UAB serves as one of 13 clinical centers in this U01 study , which is evaluating the effects of variants in the gene encoding APOL1 ( apolipoprotein L1 ) on kidney transplantation . Variants in this gene are common in persons with recent African ancestry and increase the risk for kidney disease . The purpose of the five-year study is to test kidney donors and kidney transplant recipients for APOL1 variants and determine how the gene may impact long-term kidney function .
• UAB ’ s Transplant Clinical Research Group , within the Division of Nephrology , is focused on clinical trials in kidney transplant recipients and donors . It manages five NIH-funded studies ; two are part of
the Clinical Trials in Transplantation Consortia , for which UAB is a local site . The other three are focused on evaluating the therapeutic benefits of regulatory T-cells in transplant recipients six months post-transplant , when there is inflammation on the biopsy . UAB also is part of a major , 20-site trial focused on a therapy ( already in use in rheumatology ) to mitigate delayed graft failure and limit rejection .
14 UAB CTI Report