Tech: Bone marrow key to successful organ transplants

[dracodraconis]

Researchers have discovered that if they transplant bone marrow in addition to transplanting an organ, they can "reeducate" the immune system to accept the new organ, allowing the patient to be weaned off immune-suppressing drugs within one year. Currently, organ transplants in which the donor is not an ideal genetic match can result in a person having to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives.

Comments

[travis-w.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I was just watching the news about a girl in Australia who had a liver transplant and her blood type spontaneously switched so that she doesn't have to take the drugs. The theory is that stem cells from the liver penetrated her bone marrow and triggered the change.

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

We must have been reading the article practically simultaneously. I just encountered that same article in my own feeds, but haven't read more than just the article summary so far.