Molecular Signature of Acute Rejection in Clinical Face Transplants
Abstract
People who receive face transplants are at risk of their immune system rejecting their transplants. Face transplant surgeons must monitor these patients closely to diagnose and treat rejection before it does severe damage to the transplants. Typically, monitoring is done by taking a small piece of skin (i.e., a ?biopsy?) from the facial transplant. The biopsy goes to a pathologist who observes it under a microscope and gives it a grade of 0 to 4, where 0 is no rejection and 4 is the worst possible rejection. Unfortunately, this method is not entirely accurate. Scientists have been looking at better ways to diagnose and treat rejection in all kinds of transplants, not just facial ones. For example, scientists have been looking at the expression of genes in kidney transplants, to see if kidney transplants that are undergoing immune rejection express unique genes with respect to kidney transplants that are not being rejected. This approach has shown great promise and high accuracy to diagnose rejection in kidney transplants, but it has not been tried in face transplants yet. This study will look at the expression of genes in facial transplants and whether it changes with immune rejection, and how does it specifically change. The objective is to find a better, more accurate way to diagnose rejection in face transplants. This study will use an advanced technology that detects expression of hundreds of genes simultaneously. This technology is called NanoString nCounter technology. Nanostring nCounter will be used in biopsies obtained from face transplant recipients at various times (i.e., some samples correspond to times of rejection, some others to time of no rejection), and in non-transplant patients who have facial rosacea or dermatosis. The gene expression profiles of these different sample groups will be compared. The results will determine if there are specific patterns of gene expression that are unique to facial transplants undergoing rejection. If so, these can be used in the future to diagnose rejection in facial transplant recipients more accurately. Immune rejection is the major barrier to using face transplants to treat American Service members who have suffered traumatic battlefield injuries. This study will help find improved ways to diagnose immune rejection so that it can be treated better and more people who need face transplants are able to receive them.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 07, 2017
- Source ID
- W81XWH1710278
Entities
People
- Ericka Bueno
Organizations
- United States Army