Posted on 03/20/2010 9:03:25 AM PDT by metmom
A British boy successfully underwent a groundbreaking operation involving the transplant of a windpipe which is being regenerated inside his body using his own stem cells, The Times of London reported Saturday.
Scientists described the operation, carried out on Monday at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, as a "milestone moment" in the development of techniques that could allow people to rebuild damaged or transplanted organs inside their bodies.
The replacement trachea - the bony tube that connects the nose, mouth and lungs - was stripped of the donor's cells to leave a scaffold which was then laced with the child's stem cells. The boy, aged 10, then received the transplant hours later. The stem cells are now reconstructing the airway and ensuring it is not rejected by his immune system.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Another nail in the coffin for embryonic stem cell research.
It’s simply not justifiable.
Fantastic! Let’s use more stem cells but just not embryonic.
And to imagine there are troglodytes out there who are against the use of embryonic stem cells for this kind of groundbreaking research. /s
Cool. How does this happen under the UK’s NHS?
This is amazing. I’m so glad that I saved the cord blood from all of my children. Thanks metmom for posting.
Amazing. Does this mean the boy will not have to take immune suppressant drugs for his whole life?
Thanks for the ping.
From the original article in the Times of London:
The use of the child’s own stem cells inside his body to build up the donor windpipe ensures that it is not rejected by his immune system. With a normal transplant, the risk of rejection would mean “damping down” the child’s immune system with suppressive drugs.
So, it sounds like those drugs won't be needed here, which is awesome.
Nice try of BIG Journalism to avoid mentioning this important fact in their title.
Yay! More adult stem cell success stories!
Nazis made a lot of scientific progress too, at a high human cost.
Woman Gets New Windpipe Using Her Own Stem Cells (WOW!) Here's the old thread about Claudia Castillo.
'Milestone moment' as boy undergoes transplant to regenerate trachea Here's the Timesonline version of the new story.
PR?
That’s what the article says. If it’s his own cells, then there’s no risk of rejection.
They grew a whole new windpipe, or they regrew his?
Or did they use a partial transplant and augment it with his own stem cells?
No matter what, this is wonderful news!!
That's what I read it as.
They made some kind of framework, like a structural skeleton, and added his own stem cells which will adhere to and grow on the structure.
Amazing!!!
I wasn’t sure since it sounded as though part of it came from someone else.
This is excellent news. Harmless medicine.
They probably soak the donor trachea in a solution of proteases, enzymes that dissolve proteins, to remove any antigens so as not to provoke an attack with antibodies or other elements of the immune system. The scaffold is probably just decellularized hyaline cartilege, IMHO.
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