Functional antigen matching in corneal transplantation (FANCY)

这是我们对DFG的续展申请。我们已经宣布了这一申请，在我们最初的提案中继续进行。我们最初提案的总结仍然认为：角膜疾病是导致失明的五大最常见原因之一。在大多数情况下，角膜移植可能会恢复视力。然而，免疫性移植物反应可能导致20%-50%的移植物不可逆性失败。与药理学方法相反，移植抗原的配型可能终身有效，没有副作用。这项花式试验的目的是为了证明与标准护理相比，人类白细胞抗原配型的优越性，即顺序(随机)的移植物分配。到目前为止，我们成功地筛查了我们努力争取的720名患者。我们将这一成功归功于我们高度积极的调查人员。这弥补了从一开始就失去了两个大中心的影响。此外，我们还设法克服了我们的监控承包商在招募病人期间出现的不可预见的停电。因此，我们还需要三年的时间来完成人类白细胞抗原的配型和随访。然而，尽管延迟了，这项花哨的试验仍然在预算上。我们在此申请最初宣布的超过前三年的资金。如果没有这笔资金，到目前为止的所有努力都将是徒劳的。

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.