KFO 117:  Optimisation of Living Related Liver Transplantation

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2004 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5397027

Live organ donation is increasingly being performed in Germany. In the area of kidney transplantation, this is an established procedure, whereas for liver transplantation a number of open questions remain, particularly regarding the higher risks to the donor and functional problems with partial liver transplants.
It is the overriding goal of the Clinical Research Unit to further develop living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) through systematic clinical and scientific study, particularly with animal experiments, and to establish it as an accepted alternative procedure to post mortem organ donation.
This includes:
-- investigation of psychological and psychosocial aspects of LRLT measured with various psychometric instruments, in order to better identify suitable donors through the development of evidence-based criteria;
-- developing and validating clinical-radiological criteria and analysis software for the selection of the optimum donor organ, in order to further minimise the risk of the procedure to the donor through virtual planning;
-- optimising donor organs through immunisation with highly immunogenic vaccines against Hepatitis B (HBV), in particular to favourably influence re-infection in HBV patients, and also to make this principle of immune transfer feasible for patients with Hepatitis C virus infection;
-- characterisation of the regenerative and immunologic events in the donated partial liver through animal experiments, whereby several questions will be addressed, including ischemic-reperfusion injury, the modulation of the alloimmune response, the mobilisation of peripheral stem cells, and the identification and modulation of the important signalling pathways for liver regeneration.

• DFG Programme: Clinical Research Units

Projects

• Administration of G-CSF in partial liver transplantation: Induction of liver regeneration and reduction of rejection? (Applicant Dirsch, Olaf )
• Central imaging unit (Applicant Baba, Hideo A. )
• Central Microsurgical Unit (Applicant Dahmen, Uta )
• Central Projects and Tasks (Applicant Gerken, Guido G.H. )
• Characterization of a hepatocellular carcinoma risk genotype serving as a predictor of recurrence after living donor liver transplantation and its relation to the modulated host milieu observed in the regeneration liver graft (Applicant Weber, Frank )
• Clinical Coordination Unit (Applicant Jöckel, Karl-Heinz )
• Computer-assisted Analysis of CT and MRI Data for the Evaluation of Potential Liver Donors and for the Assessment of Liver Regeneration (Applicant Broelsch, Christoph E. )
• Development of a screening instrument assessing psychosocial eligibility of living liver donors and a questionaire of donors' specific health-related quality of life (Applicant Schulz, Karl-Heinz )
• Development of a screening instrument assessing psychosocial eligibility of living liver donors and a questionnaire of donors' specific health-relatedquality of life (Applicant Erim, Yesim )
• Improvement of the quality of a living donor liver graft and enhancement of regeneration by mechanism-targeted inhibition of preservation injury (Applicant Rauen, Ursula )
• Modeling of the transfer of adoptive immunity to hepatitis B and C virus in liver transplantation (Applicant Fiedler, Melanie )
• New imaging technologies and assessment of regeneration patterns for the optimization of computer-assisted planning and risk analysis for living donor liver transplantation (Applicant Malagó, Massimo )
• New imaging technologies and assessment of regeneration patterns for the optimization of computer-assisted planning and risk analysis for living donor liver transplantations (Applicant Peitgen, Heinz-Otto )
• Prospective multicentric study on the course and psychosocial outcome for living liver donations in adults and children (Applicant Schulz, Karl-Heinz )
• Risk and recovery of outflow obstrcution in living-related liver transplantation: The influence of liver perfusion on regeneration and outcome (Applicant Dahmen, Uta )
• Risk and recovery of outflow obstruction in living-related liver transplantation: The influence of liver perfusion on regeneration and outcome (Applicant Peitgen, Heinz-Otto )
• Role of the innate immune system in animal models of living donor liver transplantation (Applicant Schlaak, Jörg Friedrich )
• Steatosis and Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Which Role for Cellular FLICE-inhibitory Protein, Death Ligands, and Fatty Acid Transporters (Applicant Canbay, Ali )
• The role of survivin in liver regeneration (Applicant Baba, Hideo A. )
• Transfer of adoptive immunity to hepatitis B virus by liver transplantation (Applicant Fiedler, Melanie )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Guido G.H. Gerken, since 12/2007
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Ursula Rauen