Who needs Embryonic stem cells? According to this story, researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have been able to transplant a kidney from a non matching donor, and prevent rejection using Adult stem cells.
After the transplant, the kidney recipient received multiple small doses of radiation targeted to the immune system combined with a drug to reduce the number of cells capable of an immune attack. The team then injected blood stem cells from the kidney donor into the recipient. The stem cells made their way to the recipient's bone marrow where they produced new blood and immune cells that mixed with those of the recipient. After this procedure, the recipient's immune cells recognize the donor's organ as friend rather than foe.Posted by Rich at April 26, 2002 4:24 AMThe Stanford team monitored the recipient's new hybrid immune system looking for a mixture of cells from both the recipient and the donor. These cells were tested in the laboratory and did not attack cells taken from the donor. This told the team that the new hybrid immune system would not mount an attack against the transplanted organ. At this time, the team slowly weaned the patient away from the immune-suppressive drugs.