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New Discovery May End Transplant Rejection

Posted by Soulskill on from the time-to-get-that-extra-liver-you've-always-wanted dept.

mmmscience writes with this excerpt from the Examiner: "Big news in the medical world: scientists in Australia have found a way to stop the body from attacking organ transplants, greatly decreasing the possibility of organ rejection. ... When a new tissue is introduced, one's immune system kicks into overdrive, sending out cells known as killer T cells to attack and destroy the unknown tissue. ... Professor Jonathan Sprent and Dr. Kylie Webster from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research focused on a different type of T cells — known as regulatory T cells (Treg) — in this study. Tregs are capable of quieting the immune system, stopping the killer T cells from seeking out and attacking foreign objects."

8 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. About to donate... by jdpars · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As someone about to donate a kidney this summer, I really hope they work on this research more. Donor matching is incredibly difficult, and the risk of rejection poses issues not only with the health of the recipient (though that's obviously the major issue), but also with the psychological health of the donor. A failed donation can make you feel like crap.

  2. Re:w00t!! by SimonGhent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, you can, but that would be like having a Core2Duo for just reading emails...

    --
    simon
  3. Re:So they're doing another type of immunosupressi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    But it only is needed for 2-3 weeks, according to the article. Just long enough for the body to accept the new cells, after that they let things go back to normal, which would allow the body to attach infectious agents.

  4. Re:So they're doing another type of immunosupressi by blueg3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If only there was a linked article that addressed these questions!

  5. Allergies? by MBoDot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if this could help in regards to allergies? I.e. stop the immune system from "reacting" too much?

  6. Re:w00t!! by alx5000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah... or buying a SUV to get your groceries. Oh, wait...

    --
    My 0.02 cents
  7. Horrible Article by quantumghost · · Score: 5, Informative
    While I am not a transplant surgeon I have worked on a surgical transplant service as part of my training. From my experience that first article has so many flaws in its description that it is not worth reading. I hope it does not reflect the original article.

    For starters "killer T-cells" are usually referred to as NK-cells and they are NOT thought to be part of the normal rejection process (they do not require activation and thus would no be stopped by immunosuppresion). There are three types of rejection hyperacute (pre-formed antibodies attack the organ in minutes - the organ literally dies as soon as it is transplanted - this is avoided by the "matching" process), acute (where T-cells [not NK-cells] attack the organ since it is not "self" and therefore "bad" - this is where immunosuppresion helps) and chronic (the body slowly rejects by allowing fibrosis of the vessels leading to the organ).

    Actual survival statics for all kidney allografts exceeds 95% today. 80% is quite a drop!

    Grafts are not assumed to "take" after 100 days allowing us to stop immunosuppresion! Immunosuppression is currently LIFELONG. There are a few instances where people have tolerated a non-identical twin transplant without medications, but this is _very_ rare. There is active research into finding the key to allow "tolerance" whereby we can drop the medications, but this is still early.

    IL-2 suppression is the _mainstay_ of current immunosuppressants both blocking its production via calcineurin ihibitors (cyclosporin and tacrolimus), inhibiting the response (sirolimus/rapamune), or by blocking the receptor with antibodies (basiliximab/daclizumab). (Please understand this is only about half of the therapies that are in use for immunosuppresion, I'm just focusing on the Il-2 aspect).

    Just followed the second link and it is _much better_. Still, I strongly disagree with their assertions of 100 days, just doesn't happen in humans. Apparently this study is using IL-2 STIMULATION with a complex that attempts to increase the regulatory T-cells...To me this means that this treatment will not co-exist with the current immunopupression dogma... this means that they will have to have a "complete" replacement for immunosuppresion they won't be able to add this to the current regiment and that means this treatment protocol will be quite sometime in the pipeline. And (fortunately) the authors acknowledge that they are optimistic, but aren't rushing off to collect their Nobel yet:

    I am also aware that effective approaches in mice do not necessarily give good results in humans because of subtle differences in the immune systems of mouse and man.

  8. Re:So they're doing another type of immunosupressi by tjonnyc999 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, IANAD, but as far as I understand it, not only does the new bone marrow generate T-cells (among other blood cells), its "offspring" take up residence in organs, so basically it's a complete reboot of the immune system, including bloodstream and organ tissues. As a matter of fact, it's such a "clean slate" that recipients lose their acquired immunity, and all the vaccinations (polio, measles, etc.) have to be done again.