Ciliopathies and atypical urinary biomarkers for kidney transplant rejection

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate whether patients with ciliopathies who have received a kidney transplant need to be monitored differently for rejection than patients with normal cilia. Biomarker levels in urine samples from transplant recipients with rejection and without, and who either have a ciliopathy or normal cilia, sourced from the BC Children’s Hospital BioBank will be analyzed to identify potential differences in immune and kidney function between them. The findings of this study seek to inform the monitoring and care of patients with ciliopathies after a kidney transplant.

This is an analysis study being conducted by Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen's research team at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen is the principal investigator.

Project Status

Status: Active, data collection completed
Study Start Date: July 6, 2021
Study End Date: May 18, 2022

Project Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen

Co-Investigator

Shirin Kalyan, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism

Research Team Members

Candice Wiedman, Research Assistant
Kevin Vytlingam, Undergraduate Student
Monica Ho, Research Coordinator

Enrollment Eligibility Criteria

Patients already consented to the Biobank and HOPESOT registry will be considered for eligibility.
All children eligible for inclusion have received a kidney transplant at BCCH, and must have provided at least one qualifying sample to the BCCH Biobank that may qualify for the analysis. Patients with ciliopathy (cases) will be identified, identifying samples with and without rejection (est. 5 patients, 10 samples). Patients without a ciliopathy diagnosis will be selected as controls, identifying approximately 20-30 patients that are manifesting early rejection (<1year), late rejection (>1 year) or no rejection (est. 60 samples).

For more information, please email sotresearch@bcchr.ca.