PROJECT
Our values are equity, solidarity, sustainability and innovation.
Overview
HORUS involves the first longitudinal cohort of European SOT recipients. In a sub-‘HORUS-exploratory cohort’, we will perform a thorough investigation of viral, clinical and immunological characteristics.
Combining those parameters will provide a signature early after transplantation to predict the risk of developing CMV infection and a signature at Day 0 of infection to predict the risk of CMV disease severity.
This signature will then be validated retrospectively by the whole cohort and prospectively in a ‘proof-of-concept’ study. Moreover, HORUS will include functional in vitro and mouse models to investigate the mechanisms of lymphocyte response to CMV and provide innovative methods to increase CMV-specific immunity.
Altogether, HORUS will enhance personalised clinical prevention and the treatment of CMV disease, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
Work Packages
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Work Package 1
Constitution of HORUS cohort
Develop two cohorts of solid organ transplant recipients with comprehensive clinical, characterization and biobanking of samples for further analyses by WP2 to 4.
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Work Package 2
Improving our understanding of CMV-specific immune dysfunctionality in the context of immunosuppression
Gain insight into the underlying mechanisms/pathways of dysfunction and identify clear signatures of dysfunctionality at day 0 of transplantation and at day 0 of infection.
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Work Package 3
Improving our understanding of CMV-specific immune response in a naïve individual in the context of immunosuppression
Understand the events occurring before CMV-infection and into the very early mechanisms/pathways leading to CMV control in naïve immunocompromised patients, which can be related to either the absence of CMV transmission from the graft and/or of a fast/efficient anti-CMV immune response.
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Work Package 4
Validation of immune markers associated to CMV infection, associated to poor outcomes during CMV infection and associated to long-term outcomes
Through the results of WP2 and WP3, we aim to extrapolate the signature found for R+ and for D+R- patients to the whole cohort in the scenario before infection and at the beginning of infection.
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Work Package 5
Methods to improve the activation of immune cells in the context of immunosuppression
Develop in vitro, mouse, and clinical models using WP2-3 findings to enhance CMV immune response through targeted immune modulation.
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Work Package 6
Project, data & IP Management
Ensure effective leadership through strategic coordination, data management, compliance monitoring, and administrative milestone fulfillment.
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Work Package 7
Maximizing HORUS outcomes and impacts
Enhance impact by executing the HORUS dissemination and exploitation plan, maintaining related agreements, and addressing regulatory barriers through proposals to public bodies.