Oxford Transplant Campaign - Seeking A Cure For Kidney And Pancreas Failure, UK

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 23 May 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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A project aimed at establishing a new integrated centre and research institute in Oxford to tackle kidney and pancreas failure is being launched today at an event in the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. The Oxford Transplant Centre and Institute of Research, which will be based at the Churchill Hospital, will be aimed at helping find ways in which to prevent and treat renal failure, and supporting patients with donated organs to lead a normal life. It will have both University and NHS involvement.

The new combined Centre and Institute, which will cost £15 million in total, will bring together a variety of leading edge research programmes, clinical laboratories and teaching facilities, with facilities to see and treat patients. The new building, which will be three storeys high, will be adjacent to the existing transplant facilities at the Churchill Hospital. It will include 20 beds for patients, research laboratories, teaching facilities and a clinical trials unit.

The Oxford Transplant Campaign, which is running the launch event, aims to raise £ 5 million to help establish the facilities. The Campaign has already attracted the support of well known public figures such as Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Terry Wogan, Sir Stirling Moss, Lucinda Green and Angela Rippon, who have all agreed to be patrons.

Oxford already leads the world in many areas of transplant research, with a focus on ensuring that new treatments and procedures are available to patients as quickly as possible. Oxford was one of the first areas in the country to carry out kidney transplants (in 1975), and has been carrying out pancreas transplantation since 2002. It now has the busiest pancreas transplant programme in Europe.

In December last year, the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, announced that Oxford was to be one of five new 'comprehensive' Biomedical Research Centres of excellence across England. All of the Centres are based within the NHS and run in conjunction with Universities. The Centres will support and develop projects in medical sciences that are focused on translating research from the laboratory to the bedside for the benefit of patients. Transplantation research will be one of the major areas within the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre programmes.

Programmes within the Institute will include research into:

-- the immune system. Rejection of transplants and the side-effects of the drugs used to prevent this, still limit the benefits of transplant surgery. A major Oxford research programme is looking at ways to 'reprogramme' the immune system to allow transplanted organs to be accepted without long-term drug therapy. This will greatly expand the opportunities for organ and cell transplantation.

-- organ resuscitation and preservation. There is an increasing shortage of donated organs, and many people die while waiting for a transplant. Researchers are looking at the benefits of keeping organs at body temperature, which allows pre-treatment of the organ before transplantation, enabling recovery from prior damage and minimises further injury. In this way, it may be possible to use organs which currently would be considered too damaged for transplantation.

-- cell therapy for diabetes. Islet cells, which exist in the pancreas, produce insulin and offer a potential treatment for diabetes in children and adults. Oxford already has one of the best-equipped facilities in Europe for extracting islets and is leading the field in research in this area.

Professor Peter Friend said: "Oxford already leads the way in many areas of transplant research. The new facilities will enable us to bring together these research streams under the same roof as patients. This will mean that research scientists and doctors looking after patients will interact on a daily basis. This seamless interaction between the clinical service and laboratory research is the best way to translate scientific innovation into real benefits for patients

"Over the last 30 years organ transplantation has saved many people's lives, and improved the quality of life of many others. By continuing research into this rapidly-moving field of medicine, I believe we can help many more patients live longer and healthy lives. I hope that people in Oxfordshire will support this important new campaign."

Professor Kathryn Wood, lead researcher, said: "Research is one of the primary drivers that has enabled the development of transplantation as a discipline and Oxford has made important contributions to the basic understanding and the clinical advances in the field. This new Institute will enable Oxford to contribute to the next generation of discovery in the global practise of transplantation."

www.oxfordtransplant.org.ox.ac .uk