Indian Transplant Newsletter Vol. 10 Issue NO.: 35 (Mar 2012 - Jun 2012)
Print ISSN 0972 - 1568

Regenerative medicine could help solve organ shortage

Indian Transplant Newsletter.
Vol. 10 Issue NO.: 35 (Mar 2012 - Jun 2012)
Print ISSN 0972 - 1568
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Professor Paolo Macchiarini, a pioneer in Regenerative medicine, said that technology in this field had advanced to the point where it was possible to contemplate transplants with no human donors, no problems of rejection and no need for lifelong treatment with immunosuppressive drugs. Dr. Macchiarini performed the first Adult stem cell grown trachea transplant in 2008. The first successful operation on a child followed in March 2010. On June 9, 2011 at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, a team of doctors including him implanted a synthetic windpipe into a 36- year-old man with late-stage tracheal cancer.

 

The new technique involves the creation of an artificial "scaffold" - which could in future be made from animal organs that have been stripped of their living cells - into which the patients' own stem cells are inserted. The cells then grow to create a fully functioning organ ready for transplant. Such an approach has already been used successfully for the repair and reconstruction of complex tissues such as the trachea, oesophagus, and skeletal muscle in animal models and human beings. Guided by appropriate scientific and ethical oversight, this could serve as a platform for the engineering of whole organs and other tissues, and might become a viable and practical future therapeutic approach to meet demand after organ failure. Writing in The Lancet, Professor Macchiarini and colleagues say that the artificial "scaffolds" necessary for the transplants could in future be obtained from animals, removing the need for human donors.

 

As their living cells would be stripped away, before being repopulated with the patient's own cells, there would be no problem of rejection. However, he does warn that many hurdles - technical, financial and ethical – lie ahead. "The pressure to advance this technique, driven by demand, the race for prestige, and the potential for huge profits, mandates an early commitment be made to establish the safety of various strategies, particularly when there are so many potential patients and doctors who are desperate for any remedy that offers hope," he said.


To cite : Shroff S, Navin S. Regenerative medicine could help solve organ shortage. Indian Transplant Newsletter Vol. 10 Issue NO.: 35 (Mar 2012 - Jun 2012).
Available at:
https://www.itnnews.co.in/indian-transplant-newsletter/issue35/Regenerative-medicine-could-help-solve-organ-shortage-61.htm

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