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Scientists Grow Human Thymus From Stem Cells

Posted by timothy on from the vote-for-the-next-organ-to-grow dept.

knight_23 writes: "The Herald Sun reports that Australian researchers have grown a functioning thymus from stem cells. The thymus is a small organ that is critical to the immune system. Human trials could begin within two years."

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  1. Little FYI on the THY: by damu · · Score: 5, Informative

    The functions of the thymus were not well understood until the early 1960s, when its role in the development of the body's system of immunity was discovered. Beginning during fetal development, the thymus processes many of the body's lymphocytes, which migrate throughout the body via the bloodstream, seeding lymph nodes and other lymphatic tissue. The main cells undergoing this processing are the T cells, a heterogeneous groups of cells essential in protecting the body against invasions by foreign organisms. If the thymus fails to develop or is removed early in fetal life, the immune system cannot develop completely. Normally, by the time the infant is a few months old, the immune system has sufficiently formed so as to function throughout life. However, further growth and development of lymphoid tissue still depends on intervention by the thymic cells. After the initial seeding process, the thymus releases a hormonal substance that stimulates further growth of lymphoidal tissue, although such a substance has not yet been isolated.
    dam()

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