Genetics to stop organ rejection

We have 5 organs that have to work for us to live. They are our brain, which is our “control center.” Our heart, which pumps our blood. Our lungs, which help us take in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Our kidneys, which filter out waste products and extra fluid from our blood. And our liver, which processes the contents of our blood. We can replace all these if they stop working. Except your brain. That one we cannot replace. We have 73 other organs too. Such as our stomach, intestines, bladder, and spleen. And lots more. Some people are born with heart defects. Or problems that affect their liver. Diseases can cause damage to our organs. Diabetes can damage our kidneys, heart and eyes. Cystic fibrosis damages our lungs and the organs in our digestive system. Some infections can damage our heart, kidneys, liver or lungs. Behaviors like smoking can damage our heart and lungs. We can live without most organs if they do not work. Like our appendix. Or our eyes. But not the key organs. If one of these organs is not working, we try to find you a new one. Children and adults may need new organs. But your body will not be used to the new organ. So we give you drugs to stop your body from not wanting, or rejecting, it. The most common drug is tacrolimus (tah-crow-LEE-muss). But this drug is hard for some people to process. We know that genetics plays a big part. We are all born with gene changes. Most of them do not cause problems. But some affect the way we process certain drugs. Most genes make proteins. Sometimes, gene changes affect the proteins they make. The protein may work ok. Or it might not work as well. Or we may make more of a protein. These changes can affect how we process drugs. You may need more of a drug. Or less. Or a different drug. If you cannot process the normal dose of a drug, you may have side effects too. Our age and body weight also factor into how much drug we should take.Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will use BioVU to study tacrolimus in children. They will look for patients who got tacrolimus. Then they will look for changes in the genes linked to how we process the drug. They will compare the data from adults and children. Their goal is to learn how certain gene changes affect the dose we give you. They also want to find out who may be at risk for rejecting an organ. They want to find a way to give you the right dose from the start. No matter what age you are. They will also look for patients who had problems after their transplant. Like kidney damage. Or infections. They want to find out who may be at risk for these problems. Their results may help us prevent these problems for future patients.