donor bone marrow stem cells (University of Miami)

This experimental cell therapy approach, developed by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is designed to induce immunologic tolerance in kidney transplant recipients. The therapy involves the infusion of donor-derived CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells in combination with alemtuzumab (Campath-1H) induction therapy. Alemtuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting CD52, is used to profoundly deplete the recipient's lymphocytes, thereby creating a biological niche that facilitates the engraftment of the donor stem cells. The goal is to establish hematopoietic chimerism, which can reprogram the recipient's immune system to recognize the donor organ as 'self' and potentially allow for the complete withdrawal of long-term immunosuppressive maintenance therapy. Clinical evaluation in a randomized pilot study (NCT00183248) focused on living-related kidney transplant recipients; however, the specific protocol failed to reliably induce tolerance and resulted in suboptimal patient and graft survival outcomes.

Other names

donor bone marrow stem cells-University of Miami-Kidney transplantationDonor Stem Cells and Alemtuzumab in Kidney TransplantationCD34+ hematopoietic stem cells + alemtuzumab