Stanford Awarded NIH Grant to Fund Major Lung Transplant Research Initiative
11.11.2022
Stanford Medicine recently received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to participate in one of the most important NIH initiatives for lung transplant research in decades. The Lung Transplant Consortium (LTC) grant brings together experts from some of the top lung transplant programs in the country. As one of eight grant recipients, Stanford Medicine is a designated clinical center and is collaborating with partner sites at Inova Fairfax in Virginia and Houston Methodist in Texas.
Each of the eight clinical centers will focus on a specific area of lung transplant research over a five-year time period. The clinical centers will also collect data and contribute to a centralized biorepository to advance research and improve the lives of lung transplant recipients.
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Researching post-transplant vaccine responses
Stanford Medicine investigators are focusing their research on the impaired vaccine responses of lung transplant recipients. The multidisciplinary team of lung transplant surgeons and pulmonologists is partnering with Stanford professor Bali Pulendran, MD, PhD. A renowned expert, Pulendran helped develop the field of systems vaccinology, which aims to understand the body’s immune response and make vaccines more effective.
“This is the ideal opportunity for Stanford investigators to collaborate across medical and surgical disciplines,” said Gundeep Dhillon, MD, MPH, medical director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program. “Through comprehensive, multifaceted research, we can increase vaccine effectiveness and help people who have had a lung transplant live healthier.”
The team’s research goals include:
- Understanding the deficits of vaccine responses in immunocompromised patients, particularly those who have had a lung transplant
- Improving vaccine design and effectiveness
- Using adjuvants to enhance the immune response to vaccines
- Evaluating and improving vaccine administration protocols
Leading the nation in lung transplant outcomes and research
With a history of excellence in lung transplantation, Stanford Medicine is uniquely qualified to spearhead a research initiative of this scale. Their Lung Transplant Program is one of the most active in the U.S., with some of the best outcomes in the country. The nationally recognized team regularly performs between 50 and 60 lung transplants each year.
- Stanford Health Care’s one-year patient survival rate for lung transplants is 96.86%, which is significantly higher than the national average of 89.46%.
- Their one-year graft survival rate of 96.98% exceeds the national average of 88.80%.
- Stanford Health Care has the highest survival rate in California and the fourth highest in the nation among lung transplant programs.
Shaping the future of lung transplant research
As part of the LTC initiative, participants will collect biospecimens and help build a centralized biorepository dedicated to lung transplantation. A data coordinating center will aggregate and organize the data, which investigators can use to improve lung transplant outcomes and guide future research efforts.
“Our team is excited about the opportunity to submit new pilot grants and gain access to a national network of highly-phenotyped tissue,” said John W. MacArthur, MD, surgical director of the Lung & Heart-Lung Transplant Program.
Both MacArthur and Dhillon will serve as voting members on the consortium’s national steering committee. In this role, the physicians will help shape the future of lung transplant research.
“This important grant enables us to continue to drive innovation in the field of lung transplantation and care,” said MacArthur. “We’re thrilled to partner with other leaders in the field with the shared goal of improving outcomes to benefit our patients.”
Lung transplantation at Stanford Health Care
Learn more about the successful Lung Transplantation Program at Stanford Health Care. We welcome your referrals and encourage you to contact the Physician Helpline at 1-866-742-4811.
You can also reach us by email at referral@stanfordhealthcare.org or fax at 650-320-9443.
About Stanford Health Care
Stanford Health Care seeks to heal humanity through science and compassion, one patient at a time, through its commitment to care, educate and discover. Stanford Health Care delivers clinical innovation across its inpatient services, specialty health centers, physician offices, virtual care offerings and health plan programs.
Stanford Health Care is part of Stanford Medicine, a leading academic health system that includes the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Children’s Health, with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Stanford Medicine is renowned for breakthroughs in treating cancer, heart disease, brain disorders and surgical and medical conditions. For more information, visit: www.stanfordhealthcare.org.