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Precision medicine company CareDx and 10x Genomics have partnered to launch ImmuneScape, a multiomics program to improve the understanding of transplant organ rejection and variability in patient response to therapy.
The partnership will study antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) and microvascular inflammation (MVI), two major contributors to transplant failure, with the goal of generating data that could inform future diagnostic development.
Under the agreement, CareDx will use 10x Genomics' Xenium spatial transcriptomics and Chromium Flex single-cell sequencing platforms to analyze transplant biopsy samples at cellular resolution.
ImmuneScape is designed to examine immune activity within transplant tissue, identify cell populations and gene expression patterns linked to disease progression and to better distinguish why some patients respond to therapy while others do not.
Initial research will include studies of AMR cases treated with anti-CD38 therapies, as well as longitudinal analyses of MVI.
Dr. Robert Woodward, chief scientific officer at CareDx, told MobiHealthNews that integrating spatial transcriptomics with single‑cell RNA sequencing enables a high-resolution understanding of individual cells and localization in the tissue.
"We believe that this will let us see where and how different types of immune activity are unfolding inside a transplanted organ – something traditional bulk assays simply cannot capture," he said.
He explained that bulk molecular diagnostics provide averaged gene‑expression signals across an entire tissue sample, which can provide an overall status of the organ, but can mask the cellular heterogeneity and microenvironments that drive rejection and other pathologies.
However, combining 10x Genomics' Xenium spatial platform with Chromium Flex single‑cell profiling allows for cellular‑resolution maps of immune infiltration, injury patterns and inflammatory pathways.
"We believe this will enable us to distinguish which specific immune cell populations are activated, how they are interacting within the tissue architecture, and how those interactions differ between forms of rejection, such as AMR and MVI," Woodward said.
The collaboration will involve transplant clinicians and researchers and is intended to generate datasets that could support future clinical applications, though the work remains in the research phase. No commercial diagnostic products were announced during the initial launch.
THE LARGER TREND
CareDx recently introduced HistoMap Kidney, a tissue-based gene expression classifier intended to support more detailed rejection subtyping. ImmuneScape extends that work by integrating higher-resolution spatial and single-cell data to explore immune mechanisms within transplant tissue.
In ImmuneScape, the company's technologies will be used to profile immune architecture and gene signatures across larger cohorts of transplant samples, including formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue.
The partnership reflects a broader interest in applying multiomics approaches to transplant medicine, an area where outcomes can vary widely despite similar clinical presentations.
By combining CareDx's clinical focus in transplantation with 10x Genomics' research platforms, the companies aim to produce data that clarify biological drivers of rejection and therapeutic response, potentially informing more targeted approaches to transplant monitoring and treatment over time.
Dr. Jeff Teuteberg, CareDx's chief medical officer, said the implications extend far beyond transplant.
"Cellular‑resolution immune mapping may provide a transformative framework for understanding immune‑mediated disease across numerous disease states," Teuteberg said.
In precision medicine, this approach uncovers the cellular pathways and microenvironments that explain why two patients with the same diagnosis respond differently to therapy.
"By linking spatial immune architecture to treatment response, including emerging therapeutics like anti‑CD38 agents, researchers can identify biomarkers that may better stratify patients and match them with the most effective interventions," Teuteberg said.
In drug development, these insights accelerate mechanism‑of‑action discovery, help identify resistance pathways and can de‑risk clinical trials by clarifying which immune phenotypes correlate with positive outcomes.
"Ultimately, ImmuneScape's underlying technologies and analytical approaches could inform precision immunology in oncology, autoimmune disease, fibrosis and beyond," Teuteberg said.
