Clinical Trials for Autoimmune Diseases

In order to prevent organ rejection, patients receiving liver transplants currently require life-long treatment with immune system-suppressing medications. However, these medications can cause long-term side effects, such as infection, kidney problems, diabetes, and cancer. This study is investigating whether liver transplant recipients can slowly be taken off these drugs under medical supervision.

Thymoglobulin is an antibody preparation that is commonly used to treat and prevent organ transplant rejection. The START trial aims to determine whether Thymoglobulin treatment can halt the progression of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes when given within 3 months of diagnosis. This study is for people aged 12-35 years old.

This is a phase I trial in individuals who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the previous 3-48 months. The study is testing whether two immune system modifying drugs are safe when used in combination and if they have immune altering effects that indicate they can halt the progression of type 1 diabetes progression.

Immunosuppressive drugs are all that separate transplant recipients from rejecting their transplanted organs. The ITN Registry of Tolerant Kidney Transplant Recipients is searching for those rare kidney transplant recipients who have stopped their immunosuppression, but for some reason have not rejected their transplants. If you have received a kidney transplant and have been off all immunosuppressive medications for 1 year and have good kidney function, or if you received your kidney from an identical twin, you may be eligible to participate. 

This study is being performed in collaboration with the Finnish Diabetes Prediction and Prevention project that is studying individuals in various stages of prediabetes and who will receive intranasal insulin as part of a secondary prevention trial. The ITN is funding the support of additional laboratory studies that hope to identify biomarkers that can predict the onset of type 1 diabetes, and to learn more about the natural history of the disease.

This study is for people with systemic lupus who have developed complications in their kidneys, called 'lupus nephritis'. The study will determine whether adding the experimental medication abatacept to standard cyclophosphamide therapy is more effective in improving lupus nephritis than standard cyclophosphamide therapy by itself.