Can molecules called chemokines flag heart transplant rejection?

Post-translation modification of chemokines during heart transplantation: Implications for their biological function (Miss Sarah Thompson)

Supervised by Dr Simi Ali, the PhD student funded by this grant is investigating ways to help prevent rejection of donor hearts. Heart transplantation is often the only option for patients with end-stage heart failure. Better drugs mean that early rejection of transplanted hearts is now rare. But chronic rejection remains a problem, and 40 per cent of transplanted hearts fail within ten years. One of the key steps leading to heart transplant rejection is the movement of immune cells called white blood cells towards the donor heart, which is controlled by molecules called chemokines. When the body is stressed, for instance during heart transplantation, chemokines can be chemically modified, which affects their production and their function. In this project, the PhD researcher will study how stress affects chemokine production and activity. They will find out whether altered chemokines are present in blood samples of transplant patients. Understanding which chemokines are altered in stressed tissue and what their function is could lead to new therapies directed towards these molecules to prevent transplant rejection. Panels of altered chemokines could also be used as a ‘biological flag’ to detect donor hearts at risk of rejection so that doctors can intervene early with more tailored drug treatments to give the new heart a better chance of survival.