About the group

The research group carries out epidemiological and clinical outcome studies in kidney transplantation, pancreas transplantation and islet transplantation.

Data from the Norwegian Renal Registry (which is updated yearly) together with data from a local biobank are generated, together with RCTs and observational studies.

The studies focus on immunotherapy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacotherapeutic modelling and metabolism, in particular post-transplant bone disease metabolism and also post-transplant diabetes (PTDM).

Projects

  • A blinded, randomized placebo-controlled trial of treatment with the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin 10 mg od vs. placebo 6 weeks after kidney transplantation. Altogether 330 patients will be included and followed for altogether 3 years. The study will run through 2028. Inclusion of patients started in May 2023, and by Dec 31 2024, altogether 172 patients had been included in the study, which is according to the progression plan.
  • The EU project ‘Diabetes, Obesity and the Kidney’ (DOKI) started in 2023. The DOKI project includes three partners: The University Hospital of La Laguna (Tenerife, Professor Esteban Porrini), University Hospital of Copenhagen (Professor Mads Hornum, Department of Nephrology) and us (Professor Trond G Jenssen). The project will run for three years, and the major scope is to improve knowledge and intervention on the risk that diabetes and obesity together pose on the development of chronic kidney disease.
  • In 2024 we initiated a randomized controlled study evaluating the effect of a structured home-based physical training program for kidney transplant recipients (HOMETRAIN KTR). Patients are included at the day of transplantation and are randomized to either a structured 12-weeks home-based training program or the standard group-based training during their 8-week follow-up at Rikshospitalet. A total of 200 patients will be included. Primary outcomes measured at 1 year are physical function and frailty score.
  • In 2024 we included and transplanted our first 2 patients in the Vx-880-001 FORWARD trial. This is a phase 1 / 2 study to assess safety and effect of transplanting a differentiated stem cell based cell line of Islets of Langerhans to patients with type 1 diabetes. They are included due to recent experience of severe hypoglycemic events. A third patient is to be transplanted in the spring of 2025. The study will include altogether 50 patients from the USA, Canada and Europe.
  • Hospital Procurement (Sykehusinnkjøp) announced a competition for immunosuppressive drugs with a deadline of spring 2025. The competition included additional requirements that if a generic wins the competition, it must be able to present bioequivalence data on kidney transplant patients of relevant ages. Our research group was commissioned by the four RHFs to conduct a bioequivalence study (GenIS_BID) to obtain the necessary data. In the fall of 2025, 42 patients were included, and the necessary data were reported to Hospital Procurement by the end of November 2025. One of the 2 generics was shown to be bioequivalent.

Studies

  • DEAK study: The effect of Dapagliflozin Early After Kidney transplantation
  • FORWARD study (Vx-880-001): Transplantation of stem-cell derived Islets of Langerhans to patients with type 1 diabetes and severe hypoglycemic events.
  • HOMETRAIN study. Randomized study of a structure home-based training program vs. regular 8-weeks group training in newly kidney transplanted patients.
  • CalciTx study: A study on the pharmacokinetic interaction between calcium and Vitamin D supplement and immunosuppressive drugs in kidney transplanted recipients.
  • GenIS: Bioequivalance of immunosuprpessvie drugs in kidney transplants.
  • SIMPLIFY study: Simplification of the plasma clearance of iohexol.
  • Hypomagnesemia as a risk factor for development of posttransplant diabetes mellitus (PhD project Rasmus Kirkeskov Carlsen).
  • The microbiome and gut metabolism of mycophenolate acid. 
  • EVITA (Epstein-Barr virus infection monitoring in renal transplant recipients).
  • BONTRAX – 10 years follow-up of bisphosphonate treatment in kidney transplant recipients.
  • TRACE: Cancer in solid organ transplant, a Scandinavian cooperation.
  • Home Based Monitoring – patient centric sampling for analyses of tacrolimus, creatinine and hemoglobin.
  • AGORAC: Minimized immunosuppression in patients with extra low immunological risk.
  • Individualization of immunosuppression, also with home-based blood sampling (MitraTip®)
  • Measured GFR by iohexol plasma clearance vs. estimated glomerular filtration rate.
  • CMV preventive strategies in kidney transplant recipients.
  • Long-term effects and safety with human pancreas transplantation.antation

Our biobank was expanded, and we have established valid measures for long-term outcome after transplantation (e.g., GFR, pharmacological and metabolic measures, inflammation parameters, etc.).

The receival of an EU grant as partner in a twinning project of the Horizon program: Diabetes, Obesity & the Kidney (DOKI), and the receival of  a large grant from KLINBEFORSK (see above) has increased our ability to perform studies on a higher level internationally than before.

Cooperation

Internal

  • Section of Endocrinology
  • Section of Transplant surgery
  • Department of Pathology
  • Department of Immunology
  • Department of Pediatrics

National

  • University of Oslo, AHUS - Renal research Group
  • University of Tromsø- Renal research Group
  • University of Bergen- Department of nephrology
  • University of Stavanger, Department of nephrology
  • School of Pharmacy, UiO
  • Department of Nutrition, UiO

International

  • Laboratory for Applied Pharmacokinetics and Bioinformatics, University of Southern California
  • Professor Esteban Porini, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain
  • Professor Manfred Hecking, Medical Universtiy of Vienna, Austria
  • CHU Limoges, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Limoges, France
  • Andreas Paasch, Caltec, Basel
  • Professor Filip Knop, Center for Diabetes Research, Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen
  • Professor Bo Feldt-Rasmussen, Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen

Publications

  • Heldal TF, Åsberg A, Ueland T, Reisæter AV, Pischke SE, Mollnes TE, Aukrust P, Reinholt F, Hartmann A, Heldal K, Jenssen TG. Systemic inflammation as a risk factor and predictor for graft loss and mortality one year after kidney transplantation. Frontiers Immunology 2025; 16: 1529812.
  • Ludvigsen LUP, Åsberg A, Spetalen S, Sørensen MD, Hamilton-Dutoit S, Gramkow A-M, Christiansen CF, Kro GB, Thomsen MK, Ulrichsen SP, Pedersen RM, Holte H, Thiesson HC, Bjerre A, d'Amore F, Dahle DO, Jespersen B, Jensen-Fangel S, Reisæter AV. Risk and prognosis of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease in Epstein-Barr virus-seronegative kidney transplant recipients - An observational cohort study from Norway and western Denmark. Am J Transplant 2025; 25(7): 1547-1560.
  • Drevland OM, de Muinck EJ, Trosvik P, Hammerstad M, Kvitne KE, Midtvedt K, Åsberg A, Robertsen I. Microbiome-derived reactivation of mycophenolate explains variations in enterohepatic recirculation in kidney transplant recipients. Microbiome 2025; 13(1): 169.
  • Jenssen TG, Bodegård J, Sveen KA, Thuresson M, Birkeland KI. Prevalence, outcomes, costs, and treatments of a contemporary population with chronic kidney disease in Norway: a nationwide observational study. BMC Nephrol. 2025; 26(1): 393.
  • Carlsen RK, Åsberg A, Svensson M, Birkeland KI, Jørgensen HS, Bressendorff I, Gulseth HL, Midtvedt K, Nordheim E, Jenssen TG. Hypomagnesemia, insulin secretion and action in patients without diabetes, 1year after kidney transplantation. Front Med (Lausanne). 2025; 12: 1492871.