Thousands of kidney transplantations are performed every year, and nearly 99% of patients in the United States are still alive a year after the surgery. But even when the organ donor is a close relative, the transplant recipient often needs to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives to guard against organ rejection. But although the drugs help to prevent rejection, they also increase the risk of infection and are very pricey. Previous work in animals has suggested ways to avoid taking these drugs. Mice and monkeys given an organ transplant coupled with an infusion of blood stem cells could sometimes be weaned off the immunosuppressant drugs. Blood stem cells are made by bone marrow and give rise to white blood cells, including the B cells that produce antibodies, and T cells that are important in distinguishing host from donor. Researchers found that transplanting these cells into the host created a hybrid immune system. The transplanted organ was no longer recognized as foreign; it was partly ‘self’.
Nature
February 5, 2008
Original web page at Nature
