Stem Cell Transplant [avoided Rejection Of Incompatible Kidneys]

Stem cell transplant [avoided rejection of incompatible kidneys]

Stem cell transplantation has helped to avoid rejection of incompatible organs after transplantation. The technique was tested on eight Americans who received kidney transplants that did not match the immunological parameters. Within a year after transplantation, five patients were able to stop taking medication to prevent rejection.

Illustration from drkamakshimemorialhospital.com /

The Americans have proposed stem cell transplantation to avoid rejection of incompatible donor organs, the BBC reports. The new technique was tested by a team led by Joseph Leventhal at Northeast Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The research report is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Currently, medications that suppress the immune system are used to prevent organ rejection after transplantation. Transplant patients have to take these drugs for life. However, at the same time, recipients increase the risk of developing arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

To participate in the study, Leventhal and colleagues recruited eight patients preparing for a kidney transplant. At the same time, donor organs were not suitable for recipients in terms of immunological parameters (histocompatibility antigens).

Together with the kidneys, the study participants were transplanted hematopoietic stem cells taken from donors, from which all types of blood cells, including immune ones, are formed. Thus, the scientists set out to modify the immune system of the recipients and prevent the rejection of the transplanted kidneys. The study found that five out of eight patients were able to stop taking medication to prevent rejection within a year after transplantation.

Leventhal's group has used donor stem cells for the first time to transplant kidneys that are not suitable for recipients. According to scientists, in the future this technique can be used for transplantation of other organs in the presence of immunological incompatibility between the donor and the recipient.