Improving life expectancy after lung transplantation and predicting chronic rejection at an early stage – this is the goal of researchers at the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) site BREATH. A team led by PD Dr. Lavinia Neubert and PD Dr. Jan-Christopher Kamp of Hannover Medical School (MHH) is investigating why some lung transplant recipients survive significantly longer with their donor lungs than others. The project is funded with approximately €465,000 by the State of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation.
Lung transplantation is often the last treatment option for people with end-stage lung disease. Despite major advances in the field, some recipients develop chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), a form of chronic rejection that can ultimately lead to the loss of graft function. Even today, around half of all lung transplant recipients die within six to ten years after transplantation.
DZL researchers PD Dr. Lavinia Neubert, a pathologist and head of the Lung Research Group at the Institute of Pathology at MHH, and PD Dr. Jan-Christopher Kamp, a pulmonologist at the Department of Pneumology and Infectious Diseases at MHH, are focusing on so-called “super-survivors” – transplant recipients who show no signs of chronic graft dysfunction for at least three years after transplantation.
The researchers are particularly interested in alveolar macrophages, specialized immune cells located in the air sacs of the lungs. Previous studies suggest that these cells may play a protective and regulatory role following transplantation. The team now aims to identify the macrophage subtypes and signaling pathways associated with long-term graft tolerance and improved survival.
To achieve this, the researchers will analyze tissue and blood samples from super-survivors, patients with confirmed CLAD, and healthy controls. Using advanced proteomics approaches and analyses of immune signaling molecules, they hope to identify novel biomarkers that could eventually be measured through simple, minimally invasive blood tests.
In the long term, the findings could help predict outcomes after lung transplantation more accurately and pave the way for new preventive treatment strategies. The ultimate goal is to promote protective mechanisms within the transplanted lung and to detect—or even prevent—chronic rejection at an early stage.
The project, entitled “Identifying liquid biomarkers for the prediction of clinical outcomes after lung transplantation using plasma proteomics,” is a collaboration between several institutes at Hannover Medical School, the Hannover Unified Biobank (HUB), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM). The project started on June 1, 2026, and is scheduled to run for two and a half years.
Source: Medizinische Hochschule Hannover : Biomarkers sought for improved transplant survival
