Functional antigen matching in corneal transplantation (FANCY)

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This is our continuation application for DFG. We already announced this application for continuation in our original proposal. The summary from our original proposal still holds: Corneal diseases are among the five most common causes of blindness. Keratoplasty can potentially restore vision in most cases. Immunological graft reactions, however, may induce irreversible graft failure in 20-50%. Matching for transplantation antigens is potentially effective for a lifetime without side-effects contrary to the pharmacological approaches. The purpose of the FANCY trial is to demonstrate superiority of HLA matching in comparison to standard care, namely sequential (‘random’) graft assignment.So far, we succeeded in screening the 720 patients we strived for. We owe this success to our highly motivated investigators. These compensated the drop out of two big centres from the start. We additionally managed to overcome the unforeseeable black-out of our monitoring contractor in the midst of the patient recruiting period. We therefore need three additional years to complete the HLA matching and follow up. However, the FANCY trial is still on budget despite the delays. We herein apply for the originally announced funding beyond the first three years. Without this funding, all endeavours so far would be of no avail.