Personalized immunomodulation after kidney transplant using donor-derived thymic epithelial cells
Institution: McGill University
Years: 2026-2027
Topic(s): Transplantation
Lay Abstract
Kidney transplants give people their lives back, but powerful drugs called immunosuppressants are needed to prevent the immune system from rejecting the organ. These medications are a double-edged sword - they increase the risk of infections, cancer, and other complications and still do not work perfectly for everyone. Because of these risks, some people are considered too frail for a transplant, and for those who do get transplanted, these drugs cannot be stopped without risking rejection.
This project explores a new way to protect kidney transplants without using immunosuppressants. I will collect cells that are naturally shed into the urine of transplant recipients. These cells come from the donor kidney and carry the donor’s genetic identity. After collecting these cells, I will convert them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a flexible cell type that can be grown into any tissue in the body. I will then guide these iPSCs to become thymic cells. The thymus is an organ that “trains” immune cells to recognize which tissues are part of the body and which are foreign.
My long term goal is to use this lab-grown donor thymus to “re educate” the immune system so it accepts the transplanted kidney as its own. If this works, it could one day reduce the amount of immunosuppressants people need, and possibly allow some patients to stop them altogether. This would make treatment easier, improve quality of life, and may allow more people, especially those who are older or medically fragile, to safely receive kidney transplants.
