UW Health has introduced a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to examine a new method to manage kidney rejection following transplant.
The Program for Advanced Cell Therapy, or PACT, is a collaboration between UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, which will test the use of a patient’s own mesenchymal stromal cells.
In this approach, cells taken from the patient’s lip are used to treat a specific type of organ rejection called T-cell mediated rejection, also called acute cellular rejection.
The technique was advanced by Dr. Sara McCoy, assistant professor of medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, who practices rheumatology at UW Health.
Using a mouse model, McCoy’s team discovered that mesenchymal stem cells prepared in this way can reverse autoimmune damage, acting like a reset button for an overactive immune system by calming inflammation and helping the body to stop attacking itself.
In February, the Food and Drug Administration approved an investigational new drug application to allow PACT to initiate the clinical trial, which will enroll 18 UW Health kidney transplant patients with signs of T-cell mediated kidney rejection.
The trial is expected to get underway in 2027.
