RENAL-CHIP: Rejection Evaluation via Non-Invasive Analysis of Circulating Podocytes With Herringbone-Chip Isolation Platform - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #non-invasive diagnosis
- #immune rejection
- #renal transplant
- RENAL-CHIP is a non-invasive method for detecting acute renal allograft rejection using circulating podocytes (CPCs) as biomarkers.
- The herringbone microfluidic chip with EpCAM antibody-functionalized magnetic beads efficiently isolates CPCs with high capture efficiency (84.4%), release (95.5%), and viability (96.0%).
- A study of 65 participants showed that transplant recipients with biopsy-confirmed rejection had ≥35 CPCs/mL (AUC = 1.0).
- Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed the donor origin of CPCs in sex-mismatched transplants.
- Single-cell RNA-seq of isolated CPCs revealed up-regulation of podocyte-injury and immune-related genes (e.g., NF-κB, TNF, NOD-like receptor pathways) in rejection cases.
- CPC enumeration provides a minimally invasive and mechanistically informed warning of renal allograft rejection.