Torque Teno Virus and Clinical Outcomes in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients Study

Project Summary

Kidney transplantation is the recommended treatment for kidney failure, but children with a kidney transplant need to take medications that lower their immune system. These medications keep the body from rejecting the kidney, but the medicines can also increase the risk of infections and cancers. Right now, there is no test to tell how much someone is immunosuppressed overall. Studies in adult kidney transplant patients show that TTV levels go up when someone is more immunosuppressed and go down when someone is less immunosuppressed. In this study, we want to see if this is also true in children. We also want to see if we can identify a goal TTV range that minimizes the risks of both rejection and infection. If we could do this, we could use TTV levels to personalize immunosuppression medication dosing for individual children.

This project is a multicenter study initiated by Dr. Rachel Engen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. BC Children's Hospital (BCCH) is a participating site for the study and is led by Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen. BCCH will be actively recruiting and collecting data and blood samples from participants throughout the study duration.

The study activities at BCCH are funded by the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Case Study (NAPRTCS).

Project Status

Status: Pre-enrolment (not yet active)
Study Start Date: July 1, 2025
Study End Date: July 1, 2030

Project Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Rachel Engen, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Site Principal Investigator

Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen

Research Team Members

Phillip Ly, Research Assistant/Graduate Student
Kennedy Austin, Research Assistant
Bhavana Gourish, Research Assistant

Enrollment Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion criteria will comprise individuals less than 18 years of age who have received a primary kidney-alone transplant. All study participants must have received induction immunosuppression with basiliximab, thymoglobulin, or alemtuzumab and use tacrolimus maintenance immunosuppression.

Participate

If you have questions or are interested in participating, please contact SOTResearch@bcchr.ca.