Illinois Federation

For Right to Life

Daily News

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have developed a technique that could keep transplant patients from having to take anti-rejection drugs. It's all thanks to adult stem cells.

 

Normally, transplant patients are subjected to long-term use of immune-suppressing drugs with serious side effects — all in the hopes the patient will not reject the donated organ.

 

The new treatment involves injecting the recipient with bone marrow from the organ donor. The stem cells from the bone marrow trick the patients' immune system into thinking the donated organ is part of the patient's natural self.

 

In one experiment, four of five kidney recipients were off immune-suppressing medicines one to five years later, The Associated Press reported.

 

"This breakthrough is another illustration that adult stem cells — in this case, bone marrow stem cells — provide hope and tangible therapies for patients today,” said Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action. “The overhyped 'promise' of embryonic stem cells continues to fade in light of more ethically and scientifically promising research."

 

Source: CitizenLink

Monday, January 28, 2008

Adult Stem Cells Help Transplant Patients Accept New Organs