THEME 1
Fighting Disease Recurrence and Promoting Tissue Repair after Liver Transplantation: Translating Basic Discoveries to Clinical Excellence
T12-703/19-R
Coordinating Institution
- The University of Hong Kong
Participating Institution(s)
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Abstract
During the past two decades, we have successfully built an internationally renowned liver transplantation centre in Hong Kong. We pioneered in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) using the right lobe liver graft in the world. This surgical innovation has successfully rescued almost 1500 patients with end-stage liver diseases and liver cancer in this sole transplantation center of Hong Kong. However, the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, high incidence of liver cancer (Hepatocellular carcinoma-HCC) and the shortage of deceased organ donors in Hong Kong has burdened heavily on the healthcare systems. We face the grand challenges of recurrent diseases and liver graft injury after transplantation. Our TRS aims to improve the long-term outcomes of liver transplantation by tackling two major recurring diseases including cancer recurrence and HBV reactivation in Hong Kong through exploring underlying mechanisms, identifying efficacious biomarkers, and developing potential treatments by integrating basic, translational and clinical research. We hypothesize that novel approaches promoting liver tissue repair and regeneration will abrogate the limit of donor organ shortage. We have established a Biobank with comprehensive clinical database for more than 20 years with around 50000 tissue and liquid biopsies from almost 1400 adult recipients with 100% of patient follow-up. Based on this Biobank, we will establish a modeling system that integrates high-throughput sequencing data and biology/immunology parameters not only for predicting disease recurrence and prognoses, but also for therapeutic guidance. We will develop cost-effective immunotherapies as novel prophylaxis, especially for the pre-treatment of living donors, to benefit the recipients’ long-term outcomes with both societal and economic impact. The proposed multidisciplinary collaborative project will not only strengthen our local and regional excellence, but also enhance Hong Kong as an internationally leading centre of excellence in liver transplant. In addition to patient and economic benefits, this project will cement Hong Kong’s international stature in science, medicine and education.
Research Impact
We will address the key issues of disease recurrence after liver transplantation through exploring the underlying mechanisms, identifying efficacious biomarkers, and developing new concept targeting immunotherapies as well as precise stem cell treatments through the integration of basic, translational and clinical research. The proposed study will not only generate scientific publications and patents, but also provide many opportunities to train future research talents. In addition to bibliometric output and education, we will also develop a unique computer modeling system essential for both disease prognoses and therapeutic guidance. Such novel digitalized platform and database will be durably important to form the infrastructure for precision medicine in transplantation. Discovery of druggable targets and exploration of new therapeutic strategies targeting disease recurrence after transplantation will open a new window for collaboration with local industries to enhance technology transfer. Development of novel immunotherapy will benefit the recipients’ long-term outcomes with both societal and economic impact.
The University of Hong Kong
Nancy Kwan Man, MBBS, MS, PhD, is the Chair Professor of Transplant Oncology and Immunology in Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong. She is the Director of Clinical and Translational Research Laboratory, Director of Liver Transplantation and Liver Cancer Research, and Director of the Laboratory for Organ Transplantation and Regeneration. She is also the President of Hong Kong Society for Immunology, and President of Hong Kong Scientist Association.
Dedicated to enhancing the outcomes of liver transplantation through reducing graft injury and cancer recurrence, Nancy leads research endeavours encompassing basic, clinical, and translational studies resulting in major advances on transplant oncology and immunology in the world. As the top 2% Scientists Worldwide on Stanford List, Nancy has published more than 210 papers in leading international journals with 17000 citations (H index 74). She and her team received numerous international awards including Basic Science Established Investigator Award and Rising Star Awards from International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS), and Mentor/Mentee Awards from The Transplantation Society (TTS).