There is a critical need for high
quality organs. In the UK 1 in 3
patients on the transplant waiting list
will die or become too unwell before
a suitable organ becomes available
for transplant. Living donors can be
used for kidney transplants however
the majority of kidneys are
transplanted from deceased donors,
following brain death or circulatory
death. There are disparities between
the quality of kidneys received from
deceased donors compared to living
donors.
Organs from deceased donors can be
damaged by the immune system
following death. The immune
systems role is to help fight illness
and diseases and restore balance.
Signalling molecules called
cytokines, released into the
bloodstream, typically fight illnesses
and diseases to restore this natural
balance, but during death such large
quantities of cytokines are released,
they have a negative impact and can
cause damage to the organs.
Cytokine damage is not always
visible and these organs are still
transplanted, but this damage leads
to poor outcomes in the recipient,
such as a slower functioning organ
and eventual organ failure, requiring
another transplant. Currently there is
no suitable means to measure organ
damage before donation.
In this project I will measure cytokine
levels in deceased donor blood
samples and correlate these to
transplant outcomes. I will also
create a low cost, portable and rapid
test that can measure cytokine
levels at the bedside to give insight
into organ quality before donation.
This is something which is not
currently available, yet essential to
improving transplant success.