Transplant technique succeeds
February 6, 2008
By Mima Mohammed
Born with only one kidney, 50-year-old Larry Kowalski received a
kidney and marrow from his brother at Stanford Hospital in 2005.
Normally, Kowalski would have needed daily drugs for the rest of his
life. But thanks to the Stanford School of Medicine, he has been
medication-free for two years.
Transplant recipients are typically matched as closely as possible
with donor organs, but the danger that a recipient's own body will
reject the organ remains. Without drugs to suppress a reaction, the
recipient's immune system normally encounters unfamiliar proteins
that can attack the organ and gradually destroy its function. As a
result, patients need a lifetime of immunosuppressive drugs.
The breakthrough with Kowalski occurred thanks to a new technique in
which he received radiation targeted at the immune system, along with
a drug that reduces the number of cells that could attack the immune
system. He then received stem cells from the kidney donor that made
their way to his marrow, enabling his body to recognize the donor's
organ.
Doctors then began to taper the use of Kowalski's medication, which
he no longer needed after six months.
The only complication Kowalski experienced was fever-related
hospitalization. He returned to work as a restaurant owner three
months after the transplant.
Medical Prof. John Scandling, who served as Kowalski's kidney
transplant specialist, said results from six patients following
Kowalski's process are pending. Initial trials have only been limited
to identical match donor recipients — people who have received a
kidney from a sibling.
Despite Kowalski's success, Scandling stressed that fine tuning still
needs to take place in trials.
"We are still working to see the result of other transplant
patients," he said. "We may have just been lucky with this patient,
but we have found it is an encouraging result."
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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