Pitt receives $14.5 million from NIH to improve pediatric heart transplantatio...( gs of basic science and preliminary cli...),Health

gs of basic science and preliminary clinical research performed by University of Pittsburgh and Children's Hospital researchers. These include results of studies of the role of the thymus in the development of transplant tolerance in children, the genetic contributions to differences in patient outcomes and how certain cells may aid in the immune response to prevent certain post-transplant tumors.

As such, the center grant brings together experts in pediatric cardiology and transplant medicine, transplant surgery, immunology, pharmacology, infectious diseases, molecular genetics and biostatistics from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute as well as from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In addition to Children's, six other leading transplant centers will be involved.

The three clinical studies to be conducted through the center are:

Continuation of a unique trial involving the inoculation of unmodified donor bone marrow into the thymus during heart transplantation. Dr. Webber is leading this project the only one of its kind that seeks to enhance graft acceptance in pediatric heart transplant patients. The ultimate goal of these kinds of studies is tolerance, or long-term graft acceptance without the need for immunosuppression, which is considered the Holy Grail of transplant medicine. Preliminary results in 14 patients who received thymic injections indicated significantly fewer "late" rejection episodes and less immunosuppression requirements one to five years after the procedure compared to 23 patients who did not receive donor bone marrow. Through the grant, these patients will continue to be followed and a second group of patients will be enrolled in a blinded, controlled trial.

Studies of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and immune response, culminating with a Phase I t
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Contact: Lisa Rossi
RossiL@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
13-Feb-2004


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