Australian scientists have recently made a breakthrough in major organ transplantations, which will allow for patients to no longer require a cocktail of immunosuppressive drugs used to stop rejection.
Successful tests have been conducted by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, where islet cells (insulin producing cells) have been placed into diabetic mice with no following side effects or drugs required. To do so, a specific immune boosting complex is used to adjust the immune system, thus allowing the body to accept new transplant tissue as its own. This complex is a combination of an anti-body, along with interleukin-2. When administered, a noticeable decrease is seen in killer T cells (cells that kill off unfamiliar matter) and an increase in T-reg cells (cells that calm the immune system) occurs. With this complex being used as a precursor to organ transplant surgeries, it offers a promising drug free future for patients.
According to Stacy Walters, a researcher at Garvan Institute of Medical Research, “After treatment, the numbers of T regulatory cells dropped over time the immune systems returned to normal in about two weeks. By that time 80% of the mice had accepted the grafts of insulin producing cells as their own. A graft is considered accepted if it's tolerated after 100 days. We took some mice out to 200-300 days, and not one of them rejected.”
Difficulties were meet by the research team in determining the perfect version of the complex, so that an adequate amount of T cells were suppressed/produced without creating a risk of infection at the targeted location. After numerous trials it is believed that the ideal complex has been produced and with no current side effects being noted.
Though the complex is still undergoing experimental evaluations, researchers believe that the majority of the kinks have been ironed out and will soon be ready for human trial.
Original link: http://www.jdrf.org.au/news/view/major-breakthrough-in-transplantation-immunity
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