Europe is committed to transplant research. Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) – Belllvitge University Hospital (HUB), led by Dr. Oriol Bestard, have received more than € 750,000 as partners of the EU-TRAIN European project, coordinated by INSERM and participated by twelve partners to whom the European Commission has awarded more than €6,640,000 in total. The project, which is part of the challenge ” New concepts in patient stratification” of Horizon 2020 framework and is of a translational nature, also involves the team of the renal transplant unit of HUB’s Nephrology Service.
Chronic rejection currently represents the main cause of failure in transplants worldwide, with immediate consequences for patients in terms of mortality, morbidity and costs for society. However, there are no robust evaluation systems available today to make accurate diagnoses and stratify the risks, which are key aspects in this field. In order to meet this need, the EU-TRAIN project has the ambitious but realistic goal of offering clinicians innovative and accessible tools for the early prediction of individual risks of transplant rejection and personalizing clinical management and treatment so as to improve results.
The project will be launched next January and will last for five years. “Making use of the latest technologies in immunology, gene expression and biomarker research, EU-TRAIN aims to develop a diagnosis and risk stratification system for kidney transplantation that combines clinical, histological and biological data, which we have called EU-TRACER” explains Dr. Oriol Bestard. Validation of the system will be carried out through two studies, including a multicentre randomized clinical trial.
The EU-TRAIN European project brings together the main renal transplant centers in Europe, creating an operative network with 12 partners. At the moment, all of them aim to take research from the bench to bedside through product development in collaboration with three industrial partners and the participation of the European Scientific Society of Transplantation (ESOT). “Our goal is to define a new model or standard for clinical care in transplants”, adds Bestard. The project has great potential for its implementation on a large scale and in other centers in Europe.