Tag: transplant

Prediction of organ transplant rejection using artificial blood vessels

Organ transplantation involves the transplantation of organs from donors as a means to treat disease or injury, but there is a shortage of organs available for donation compared to the demand for organ transplantation. Research involving the transplantation of animal organs (xenotransplantation) is ongoing, considering its potential to overcome these challenges. Heart valves and corneas

Scientists launch clinical trial of CRISPR gene correction therapy in patients with sickle cell disease

Scientists at UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley and UCLA have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to jointly launch an early phase, first-in-human clinical trial of a CRISPR gene correction therapy in patients with sickle cell disease using the patient's own blood-forming stem cells. The trial will combine CRISPR technology developed at Innovative Genomics

Researchers identify immune cells that contribute to transplant rejection

Non-circulating memory T cells, whose main function is to provide local protection against re-infection, contribute to chronic transplant rejection, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers reveal in a paper published today in Science Immunology. The scientists show that these “tissue-resident memory T cells” are harmful in situations where antigens that the cells recognize are

Antifungal Meds Cut Risk for Death After Lung Transplant

MONDAY, Oct. 26, 2020 — Preventive antifungal medications cut the risk for death following a lung transplant by more than half, according to a study published online Sept. 23 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Kelly M. Pennington, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues evaluated the effect of antifungal

The effects of social determinants of health on kidney transplant candidates

Certain social determinants of health predict patient-reported outcomes in potential kidney transplant recipients, according to a study that will be presented online during ASN Kidney Week 2020 Reimagined October 19-October 25. In the 955-participant study, patients’ experience of discrimination in a medical setting, greater depressive symptoms, and a lower sense of mastery (or control over

Air pollution slashes survival chances for heart transplant patients

Air pollution slashes the survival chances for heart transplant patients, finds study Experts at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio tracked 22,000 people All of the patients had received a donor heart between 2004 and 2015  They compared patients’ home address against levels of PM2.5 pollution  Air pollution slashes the survival chances for people who

Patient Dies After Getting a Poop Transplant

“Poop transplants,” or what doctors refer to as fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), have been used in recent years as an experimental cure for Clostridium difficile, sometimes referred to as C. diff or C. difficile, which affects nearly half a million Americans each year. C. diff is a type of bacteria that can produce toxins that

With new heart, mom of four competes in transplant games

Kristen Patton was settling in to feed her newborn on Christmas Eve as her three older children went to bed. It was the holiday evening she had envisioned—relaxed family time the day after coming home from the hospital following the birth of her daughter, Hattie. Suddenly, unbelievable pain shot through Kristen’s left jaw. It moved

Woman, 68, receives her lung donor’s peanut allergy

Woman, 68, who received a lung transplant develops her donor’s peanut allergy in ‘very rare’ phenomenon The unnamed patient, from San Diego, had never had a reaction to nuts before When doctors heard a sandwich triggered her symptoms they were suspicious Nut allergies are only believed to have been passed on four or five times

Lung transplant patients face elevated lung cancer risk

In an American Journal of Transplantation study, lung cancer risk was increased after lung transplantation, especially in the native (non-transplanted) lung of single lung transplant recipients. This was a large registry-linkage study that utilized matched transplant and cancer registry data from 17 US states/regions, including approximately 50 percent of US transplant recipients from 1987-2012. Researchers

Clues found to early lung transplant failure

Among organ transplant patients, those receiving new lungs face a higher rate of organ failure and death compared with people undergoing heart, kidney and liver transplants. One of the culprits is inflammation that damages the newly transplanted lung. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Northwestern University Feinberg School of

Better diagnosing heart transplant rejection and injury

The results of an international clinical trial for a new system of diagnosing heart transplant rejection and injury will be presented publicly for the first time at the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) annual meeting, which will take place on April 11 and 12 in Nice, France. Led by Dr. Phil Halloran