A Glimpse Of The Future
It's no secret that I want another kidney transplant but I'm waiting for new medications to come out. This
article at Newsweek summarizes some of the avenues they are exploring with regards to getting the body to accept a transplant.
- Mixed Chimerism: destroying the bone marrow of the recipient and injecting bone marrow from the donor. The immune system of the recipient "reboots" with some of the donor's characteristics, tricking the immune system into thinking the new organ belongs there.
- Tricking the immune system into thinking the organ is part of the body.
- Xenotransplantation: growing spare organs in animals with immune systems that are somehow compatible with the recipient's.
I think most of these ideas have been out there for awhile, but the article also described some of the possible side effects of the current drugs, and making the point these drugs are TOXIC.
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