Lung Transplant HCV, Pilot Study

Overview

In this study HCV negative recipients will be transplanted with HCV positive lungs. Investigators will attempt to decrease infectivity rates by performing Normothermic Ex vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP), which is an approved method of donor lung preservation, assessment and treatment, and could be an excellent platform to reduce/eliminate hepatitis C virus. Patients will be treated by the standard approved direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) if infection occurs. It is planned to enroll 20 patients from the Lung transplant wait list in this study. Patients will be actively followed for 6 months including HCV PCR tests and then for up for 5 years to look for evidence of HCV infection and any liver or extra-hepatic complications, as well as standard post-transplant complications. This will be a single center pilot study.

The success of lung transplantation (LTx) is significantly hindered by the lack of sufficient number of available donors. Many potential donor lungs cannot be utilized in clinical transplantation because donors have chronic viral infections such as hepatitis C (HCV) infection. This study will test the possibility of safely transplanting lungs from HCV positive donors. Donor lungs will be subjected to Normothermic Ex vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) for 6 hours for organ assessment and reduction of viral load prior to transplantation. After transplantation, recipients will be carefully monitored for HCV infection and if infection occurs, they will be promptly treated with highly effective antiviral therapy using newly approved DAAs. The aim of the study is to show that transplantation of lungs from HCV positive donors is safe in the era of DAAs. The hypothesis is that the rate of HCV transmission to recipients will be lower than previously described due to EVLP pre-treatment and any HCV transmission that does occur will be readily treatable and curable. If successful, the knowledge from this study can have a large impact to patients with end stage organ diseases by providing a large novel source of donors for lung and potentially other organ transplantations.