Teen Takes On Donor's Immune System

Leibel writes "The Australian ABC News is reporting that a 15-year-old Australian liver transplant patient has defied modern medicine by taking on her donor's immune system. Demi-Lee Brennan had a liver transplant. Nine months later, doctors at Sydney's Westmead Children's Hospital were amazed to find the teenager's blood group had changed to the donor's blood type. They were even more surprised when they found the girl's immune system had almost totally been replaced by that of the donor, meaning she no longer had to take anti-rejection drugs. 'Dr. Michael Stormon says his team is now trying to identify how the phenomenon happened and whether it can be replicated. "That's probably easier said than done... I think it's a long shot," he said. "I think it's a unique system of events whereby this happened. "We postulate there's a number of different issues - the type of liver failure that she had, some of the drugs that we use early on to suppress the immune system and also that she suffered an infection with a virus called CMV, or cytomegalovirus, which can also suppress the immune system."'"

Comments

Self-rejection?

[Anonymous Coward]

So if she takes on her donor's immune system, how does that prevent her from rejecting her own body tissues?

2 questions

[Stooshie]

As someone who has received a renal Tx and who also has a degree in Anat.,Phys.&Biochem. I have 2 questions.

1. If her immune system has been replaced by her donors, won't her other organs/tissues (her own) be rejected by her new (her donor's) immune system?
2. They gave her a liver from someone with a different blood type?!? I know other markers as well as blood type are taken into account (and in hepatic Tx urgency is another factor), but I thought a blood type match was the minimum requirement.