Recent work by researchers at the University of Kiel Medical Center in Germany suggests that stem cells could help to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs. Dr Fred Faendrich and colleagues obtained cells from the bone marrow of adult rats, whose heart were later removed for transplantation into other rats of different strains. The cells were then cultured and injected into the transplant recipient rats. The procedure was successful and some of the rats lived for more than 100 days without rejecting the transplanted heart. Normally, adult stem cells do not divide quickly enough to be effective at preventing transplant organ rejection, however in this experiment a culture method developed by Faendrich that speeds up stem cell division was used. The researchers now plan to develop similar techniques that could be used to prevent transplant organ rejection in humans. Such a technique would remove the need for immune-suppressing drugs, which render the patient susceptible to infection, and do not always prevent the recipient’s immune system from attacking the transplant organ.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 19th February 2003
