Safety and Early Biological Activity of Regulatory Dendritic Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation: Updates from a Phase I/II Clinical Trial

Presenter: Lillian Tran, MD (mentors: Drs. Angus Thomson and Abhi Humar)

Successful tolerance induction using immune cell-based therapies in transplantation depends on understanding of the peripheral circulating and local intra-graft immune cellular milieu that underlie graft injury and survival. In an ongoing phase I/II clinical study assessing regulatory dendritic cell (DCreg) therapy in liver transplantation, peripheral blood and liver allograft tissue samples were obtained from liver transplant recipients at multiple timepoints prior to and after liver transplantation. Serum plasma protein and liver tissue single cell transcriptomic analysis were performed to compared changes in the immune cell compartments in liver transplant recipients who received DCreg therapy to matched control patients. Dr. Tran will additionally present preliminary single cell transcriptomic data from liver transplant mouse models to characterize early post-transplant immune cell infiltration into liver allograft and how they contribute to hepatic ischemic-reperfusion injury in the setting of transplantation.