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Whole Organ Grown In Animal For First Time

Posted by samzenpus on from the inside-job dept.

An anonymous reader writes British scientists have produced the first working organ grown from scratch in a living animal. Reprogrammed cells created in a lab were used in a mouse to produce a thymus. The organ was created using connective tissue cells from a mouse embryo and were converted into a different cell strain by changing a genetic switch in their DNA. The resulting cells grew into the whole organ after being injected. It has only been tested on mice so far, but researchers at Edinburgh University say that within a decade the procedure could be effective and safe enough for humans. The findings were published in Nature Cell Biology.

3 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Wouldn't it be rejected? by HangingChad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This means the developing thymus would not be a tissue match for the patient.

    It would seem like organs grown in animals would contain animal proteins and cell receptors. I wonder how they get around that in the patient ready organs? Freaking amazing. Not quite as amazing if the recipient has to live on anti-rejection drugs the rest of their lives, but still impressive.

    Researchers also need to be sure that the transplant cells do not pose a cancer risk by growing uncontrollably.

    Slight problem there.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Wouldn't it be rejected? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      An organ grown in an animal would be an animal organ - sure. Which is why you would grow a new organ inside the patient instead. That way, it'd be his own organ - a perfect match. Lost your kidneys to poisoning? Grow new ones. Have surgery that hook the new ones up to the right places, and live normally thereafter . . .

    2. Re:Wouldn't it be rejected? by alexander_686 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Maybe not.

      One could grow organs inside a person's body or in a tube, but there are issues about blood supply, proper growth, etc. A possible solution would be to grow human organs in animal hosts. Transgenic pigs are often cited as a possible choice. They are about the right size for many organs and their immune system should be able to be tweaked so as not to reject the foreign tissue. Of course, this approach has other technical hurdles to overcome. I am not willing to bet on what the answer will be.

      Still in the realm of science fiction but we are getting closer every day.