By UKidney Staff on Samedi 11 Avril 2009
Category: Kidney transplantation

Major breakthrough in transplantation immunity

Professor Jonathan Sprent and Dr Kylie Webster from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in collaboration with colleagues, Dr Shane Grey and Stacey Walters reported a major breakthrough in the area of transplantation tolerance in this month's issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. This fascinating report describes a method of inducing tolerance of islet cell grafts transplanted into mice. The technique involves combining an antibody with IL2 in a complex that upregulated T-regulatory cells, suppressing T-Killer cells that lead to acute rejection. No immunosuppression was required by the animals and 80% enjoyed tolerance of the graft. While these results are preliminary and in an animal model, it does offer a glimpse at a potential strategy that might obviate  or significantly reduce the need for toxic medications in human transplant recipients of all kinds.

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