Why PHOENIX?
Solid organ transplantation is often the only option for people with end-stage organ failure. Although transplantation success rates have improved in recent years, life-long immunosuppression is required to prevent graft rejection. This medication regimen due to its associated risk of cancer, infections, and other complications, places physicians in a dilemma. They must balance the risk of rejection and graft loss with the risk of progression of infection and cancer.
PHOENIX is a Horizon Europe-funded research project offering a transformative approach to organ transplantation, by inducing transplant tolerance and eliminating lifelong immunosuppression.
What we do
Our project is developing a nanomedicine to prevent graft rejection and induce transplant tolerance without compromising the host’s immunity to infections and cancer. Our nanotechnology-based therapy builds on breakthrough research that has shown promising results in reprogramming host T cells that attack transplanted organs.
PHOENIX will:
- Enable successful organ transplantation without life-long immunosuppression, benefiting millions of people, healthcare systems, and society as a whole.
- Reduce the disease burden on people with organ transplants, eliminating the need for second transplants and reducing waiting times for new transplant patients.
- Eliminate the need for life-long immunosuppression, avoiding its toxicity, allowing organ recipients to live longer with a higher quality of life. Reduce the socioeconomic burden on healthcare systems.
Why we do it
PHOENIX is crucial as it addresses the global challenge of transplant graft survival. Sadly, about 40% of transplant patients pass away within 10 years, and at least 15% experience their transplanted organ failing every decade. Improving graft survival will significantly enhance patients’ quality of life, lower medical costs, and ultimately save more lives.
PHOENIX’s novel nano-immunotherapy consists of nanoparticles coated with protein complexes that target the organ recipient’s anti-graft immune cells and re-program them into regulatory cells, inducing a tolerogenic environment without the negative systemic effects. This therapy will be preclinically validated in kidney and liver transplants, in two species, to provide robust evidence for future clinical trials.
The goal of the PHOENIX project is to demonstrate that our nano-therapy helps develop transplant tolerance without impairing the host’s immune responses to vaccines or infections.
