Grant: Operating Grant

Kidney transplant rejection can only be diagnosed by transplant biopsy, which is costly, inconvenient, and carries a small risk of complications. Therefore, biopsies cannot be obtained frequently to monitor the health of the transplant. This monitoring is important since rejection (or inflammation) of the transplant can happen and is not always detectable with standard blood tests. New urine tests may benefit transplant patients by detecting complications in their kidney, such as different types of inflammation, early enough to intervene and could avoid invasive biopsies. The study of proteins and how they interact is referred to as "proteomics". Recent developments in proteomic methods make it possible to rapidly screen for proteins in the urine that may be diagnostic of transplant rejection. This proposal will use proteomics to study how transplant rejection happens and test different proteins for their ability to detect rejection. Ultimately the goal is to develop a point-of-care non-invasive monitoring test for the rapid diagnosis of rejection. This may lead to the prevention or early treatment of kidney rejection/inflammation and improve patient care and kidney transplant survival.