Strategy to achieve biomarker-driven immunosuppression after solid organ transplantation by an academic-industry partnership within the European BIO-DrIM consortium

Abstract

Solid organ transplantation has emerged as the “gold standard” therapy for end-stage organ failure as it improves both quality of life and survival. Despite the progress in short-term graft survival, that is closely associated with the impressive reduction of acute rejections within the first year, long-term graft and patient survival remain almost unchanged and unsatisfactory. Incomplete control of chronic allograft injury but particularly the adverse effects of long-term immunosuppression, such as graft toxicity, diabetes, cardiovascular events, infections, and tumours continue to challenge the long-term success. In general, immunosuppression is applied as one-size-fits-all strategy. This can result in over- and under-immunosuppression of patients with low and high allo-responsiveness, respectively. Trial- and -error strategies to minimize or even completely wean of immunosuppression have a high failure rate. Consequently, there is an unmet medical need to develop biomarkers allowing objective risk stratification of transplant patients. To achieve this goal, we engaged in an academic-industrial partnership. The central focus of the European-wide BIO-DrIM consortium (BIOmarker-Driven IMmmunosuppression) is the implementation of biomarker-guided strategies for personalizing immunosuppress- ion to improve the long-term outcome and to decrease the adverse effects and costs of chronic immunosuppression in solid organ transplant patients. The concept includes four innovative investigator-driven clinical trials designed by the consortium.