Expected Outcomes

Improving the health of European citizens

In Europe, 50,000 to 100,000 patients have end-stage renal failure. Compared to dialysis treatment, for most patients kidney transplantation is better suited to regain health, quality of life, and the ability to pursue an individual and self-maintained life, including the possibility to work and have financial independency.

Approximately 18,000 kidney transplantations are performed annually in Europe. However, this figure is far exceeded by the number of patients on the waiting list for renal transplantation. Improving the success rate of transplantation by prolonging the allograft survival would contribute to have less second or third renal transplantations, hence more new patients transplanted, instead of being dependent on dialysis. This would also shorten the time patients spend on the transplantation waiting list.

By providing early and reliable diagnostic tools, BIOMARGIN will contribute to such improvement, as therapeutic or preventive measures can be initiated earlier to avoid, stop or reverse the pathological processes.

Improving treatment outcome for transplanted patient

Early and specific diagnosis of immunological or non-immunological allograft injuries is a major pre-requisite for a successful intervention. The earlier therapy can be started, the greater the chances are to stop, or even reverse, the injury process and prevent irreversible scarring of the renal tissue. Based on this, we expect to better conserve renal tissue and function, thus prolonging allograft survival, which is currently limited to approximately 12 years on average. This is particularly important for pediatric patients, who are expected to need several transplantations during their lifetime to avoid prolonged dependency on dialysis. . The general condition of the patients will also improve, resulting in a better quality of life for the patient.

Better understanding of the mode of action of existing or potential treatments

So far, the pathophysiology of progressive loss of allograft function has been poorly understood. The use of different 'omics' technologies in BIOMARGIN holds the promise of delineating specific molecules and pathways in these processes, of immunological or non-immunological origin, which can serve to define therapeutic targets.

Providing diagnostic tools

The whole purpose of BIOMARGIN is to develop new diagnostic tools. Once validated, the BIOMARGIN biomarkers will enable a closer monitoring of the graft in order to detect acute or chronic injuries earlier, which will translate into earlier intervention and hopefully better long-term outcome. In this regard, our approach may be viewed as highly individualized renal transplant patient care.

Increasing the competitiveness and boosting the innovative capacity of European health-related industries and businesses

Three European SMEs are part of the BIOMARGIN consortium, two of which are research companies involved in the biomarkers field and one is a Contract clinical Research Organization.