Fantastic!
Girl’s immune system ‘reprogrammed’ before kidney transplant in UK first
An eight-year-old girl had her immune system “reprogrammed” before a kidney transplant in a UK first that will spare her a lifelong drug regimen.
Aditi Shankar had a stem cell transplant using bone marrow taken from her mother, who also donated the kidney. The treatment means that the new kidney works without the need for Aditi to take immunosuppressant drugs to stop her body rejecting it.
Immunosuppressants work by dampening the body’s immune system. Although this can be vital to prevent a body from rejecting a transplanted organ, it leaves patients more vulnerable to infection and complications.
[bbc.co.uk]
9
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2 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.That may not work... Mothers often develop an immune response to their fetuses and those cells could continue to live in the mother's bone marrow. She could still develop graft-versus-host disease. Maybe the bone marrow cells are sorted before transfer to remove the cells that would react to the child?
racocn8
Level 9
Sep 22, 2023
1
Ryo1:
I don't know. I'm not an expert.
The article says:
First, a bone-marrow transplant using stem cells from her mother, Divya, rebuilt Aditi's immune system.
Six months later, she had a kidney transplant - again donated by her mother - and her immune system accepted the organ.
There must be a reason why they had to wait 6 months before the actual transplant.
I’m no medical expert, but those who are are hailing this as a medical breakthrough but not without risks and won’t be suitable in every case…. Girl receives UK's first rejection-free kidney from mum [bbc.co.uk]
@Ryo1 Bone marrow fills the inside of every bone in your body...the transplant involves a large syringe's worth at best, it takes the 6 months for the donor marrow to grow to fill all the bones. Did you think they sucked out a percentage of the mother's marrow and filled the kid to the brim???????? Certain death for both of them, and BTW the donor undergoes tremendous pain upon waking, and for quite some time, they usually take from the bigger pelvic bones and sometimes have to predrille a hole for the syringe. (My brother was a non-familial donor)
Ryo1:
That's very interesting. Thank you!
Wonderful!
And I have been seeing commercials for a drug to "manage" myasthenia gravis...(Lou Gehrig's disease) which stuns me whenever I see it, having had a 40-ish friend, very fit, young family, be taken by it in less than a year, such a horrible way to go at any age.
Science is wonderful!!!!!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Sep 22, 2023
3
Amen Sister. Miracles don't happen by will of any god. Scientists make our miracles.
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