Rejection may show as a rash on the donated skin patch, often before the body has started to reject the lungs. If such a rash is seen, a tiny biopsy from the skin will be taken, as a step to confirm the presence of rejection.
If the trial is a success and the approach can be rolled out to all lung transplant recipients, the research team believe it could cut rejection by up to 50%.
The SENTINEL trial started this month and will recruit 152 patients over three years. The £2million trial is run by the Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU) at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant and the five UK lung transplant centres and funded by a Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) partnership.
Patients will receive a 10 x 3cm skin patch from the forearm of the organ donor, which will be transplanted onto the under-surface of the patient’s forearm at the same time as the lung transplant. The skin transplant will be carried out by an independent plastic surgeon.
Skin seems to reject earlier than other organs and is easily visible at all times. Doctors can treat the rejection as soon as a rash appears, to try to prevent the lung from also rejecting.
Lung transplant rejection rates are high and cause injury – around 55% of patients are alive after five years. Rejection is monitored through tests of lung function, blood tests, X-rays and lung biopsies but it’s difficult to identify until it is already quite advanced.
Identifying early signs of rejection allows earlier and more personalised treatment, helping the organ to work for longer. If there are no signs of rejection, immunosuppressant medication can possibly be reduced, minimising side effects including higher risks of cancer and diabetes.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences website.