Rejection Reversal Blog

Transplant Procedure Creates 'Hybrid' Immune System to Combat Rejection

Posted 7 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, March 7 – Researchers report that they were able to create a kind of hybrid immune system in patients who received kidney transplants, a process that appeared to allow the recipients' bodies to accept a foreign organ instead of trying to reject it. There are caveats. The research is preliminary and only involved a tiny number of patients. Also, the required procedure is expensive and its long-term effects aren't known. But if it works, the process – which involves transferring bone marrow cells from the kidney donor to the patient – could allow organ transplant recipients to avoid a lifetime of taking dozens of pills a day. "It's a huge step forward," said Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, director of the University of Louisville's Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, and co-author of the study published in the March 7 issue of Science Translational Medicine. The immune system's job is ... Read more

Related support groups: Organ Transplant -- Rejection Prophylaxis, Organ Transplant, Organ Transplant -- Rejection Reversal, Rejection Prophylaxis, Rejection Reversal