A Breath Test - a new diagnostic method for acute and chronic lung rejection after lung transplantation

Bakgrund: Lung transplantation (LTx) is the only effective treatment for patients with end stage lung disease. Despite improvements in LTx, primary graft dysfunction (PGD) and chronic lung allograft dysfunction

(CLAD) remains the leading cause of mortality. There is a general lack of diagnostic tools for PGD and C LAD. We have recently shown in two published proof-of-concept studies that exhaled breath particles (EBP) can be used as an early detector to diagnose PGD in lung transplant patients and lung injury. In an unpublished pilot study we also show that EBP can be used to detect CLAD.

Målsättning: We aim to identify EBP that can be used to predict the development of PGD and CLAD. We aim to determine if these EBP/biomarkers can be detected with the same reliability as in the lung biopsies. Arbetsplan:

A Swedish national observational study on 140 Lung transplant patients, followed prospectively from the time of transplantation and for 3-5-years with EBP, plasma, BAL and lung biopsies. A part of the clinical cohort is already established. Samples will be explored using RNA sequencing and Mass spectrometry in collaboration with BioMS.

Betydelse:

Identifying PGD and CLAD at an earlier stage where it could be treated with a higher chance of success will have a direct effect on patient survival. Once the results are analysed and the outcome are compared with the original question, we aim for implementation within 2-3-years.