Single Cell Transcriptomics Reveal Allograft Immune Cell Patterns Associated with Histological Features of Acute Cellular Rejection After Regulatory Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation

Presenter: Dr. Lillian Tran (advisors: Drs. Abhinav Humar & Angus Thomson)

Successful tolerance induction using immune cell-based therapies in transplantation depends on understanding of the local intra-graft 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, liver allograft tissue biopsies were obtained from enrolled liver transplant recipients on day of transplant (Day 0) and 1-year post-transplant and grouped for analysis based on presence or absence of histological features meeting criteria for ACR on 1-year biopsy.  Dr. Tran's research group aimed to detect unique intra-graft immune cell patterns that correlate with risk of acute cellular rejection by single-cell RNA sequencing of graft immune cell subsets.