Toulouse at the centre of kidney transplant research

As head of the kidney transplant service at Toulouse University Hospital, Professor Nassim Kamar is both a nephrologist and a researcher: his research into kidney transplants has made him world-famous. As a University Professor and Hospital Practitioner means he conducts and leads medical research while caring for patients. Thanks to his experience working with patients and his academic expertise, Prof. Kamar is one of the project's lead investigators.

Prof Nassim Kamar

Patients: the first link in the medical research chain

Both in Toulouse and at other research centres, the KTD-innov study could not succeed without close patient collaboration. Their involvement means researchers can obtain valuable data aimed at better understanding kidney transplant rejection and improving patient care and  post-transplant monitoring. 

As a recruitment centre for KTD-innov, Toulouse University Hospital's role is to establish this partnership with transplant patients. Prof. Kamar's team at Toulouse University Hospital provides information and collects samples from volunteer patients who are recruited when being cared for at the hospital. Although the samples are mostly among the usual necessary ones taken to monitor transplant patients and donors, a few extra samples are taken to provide data required for and specific to the study. All samples are sent to the analytical laboratories partnering with the KTD-innov project.

The Organ Transplant Unit (UTO) at Toulouse's Rangueil Hospital, coordinated by Prof. Kamar, is the only one in France to gather for adult kidney, pancreas, liver, lung and heart transplant departments all in one place. The Transplant Unit monitors almost 1500 patients and performed 293 grafts in 2016, making it one of the French leaders in the transplant field.

​This expertise in transplant patient care and monitoring makes Prof. Kamar's service a key asset for the KTD-innov project. Toulouse's Rangueil Hospital is thus the 3rd center in terms of patients inclusions in the study.

​A collaborative network serving patients and research

Toulouse University Hospital is part of the KTD-innov consortium that involves 9 partners (2 industrial and 7 hospitals and academic centres) involved in the KTD-innov study. Some partners are recruiting centres like Toulouse University Hospital and others are analysis platforms with the equipment required to extract the desired data from the samples collected: the presence of certain proteins and antibodies, plus transcriptomic data.  

This collaborative drive between public and private stakeholders in multidisciplinary teams reflects French healthcare players' determination to improve care for patients who have received a kidney transplant.

University/hospital research projects like KTD-innov are funded by the French government: something that for Prof. Kamar is "needed for promoting the excellence of French research and its applications".