Extracellular Vesicles for Rejection Monitoring in Cardiac Transplantation (ExoRejeCT)

June 30, 2026 updated by: Laurenz Kopp Fernandes
This study will analyze extracellular vesicle (EV)-derived protein profiles in heart transplantated patients during the first 15 months post-transplantation to investigate, if there are distinct EV-derived proteins or protein patterns that allow early and reliable diagnosis of acute cardiac allograft rejection. Additionally, it will explore temporal changes in the EV-derived protein profile during the early postoperative period irrespective of acute allograft rejection, and will investigate, if there are correlations between EV protein markers and imaging findings.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Germany
    • State of Berlin
      • Berlin, State of Berlin, Germany, 13353
        • Recruiting
        • Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, Department vor cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients within the first year after heart transplantation

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subject is either on the heart transplant waiting list or is still hospitalised following HTx surgery.
  • Age of subject is ≥ 18 years.
  • Subject is female or male.
  • Capacity to consent.
  • Signed written informed consent.

  • For female subjects:

    1. Confirmed post-menopausal state, defined as amenorrhea for at least 12 months, or
    2. If being of childbearing potential: Negative highly sensitive urine or serum pregnancy test before inclusion.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Concurrent multiple solid organ or tissue transplants.
  • Prior history of any organ or cellular transplantation.
  • Subject suffers from an addiction or from a disease that prevents the subject from recognising nature, scope, and consequences of the study.
  • Subject shows an inability to comply with all the study procedures and follow-up visits.
  • Subject is legally detained in an official institution.
  • Subjects who are unwilling to consent to saving and propagation of pseudonymised medical data for study reasons.
  • Subject is financially dependent on the investigators or the study site.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
HTx patients
This study will include patients actively listed for heart transplantation (HTx) and patients who are still hospitalized following HTx surgery.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Identification of an extracellular vesicle-derived biomarker or biomarker pattern to diagnose endomyocardial biopsy-proven acute cellular or antibody-mediated cardiac allograft rejection
Time Frame: From entrollment to the end of study participation at 15 months
Change of the level of at least one EV-derived biomarker in the blood plasma of cardiac allograft recipients with endomyocardial biopsy-proven acute cellular or antibody-mediated cardiac allograft rejection compared to those with no rejection at the time of blood sampling.
From entrollment to the end of study participation at 15 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Laurenz Kopp Fernandes

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Felix Schoenrath, Prof, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 18, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 30, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 23, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 23, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 30, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-053-CVK
  • 101137466 (Other Grant/Funding Number: European Union)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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