Transplant Patients Could Live Free of Anti-Rejection Drugs
Scientists from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a pattern of gene expression shared by a small group of patients who beat the odds and remained healthy for years without medication, after undergoing Organ transplant.
The findings made by Minnie Sarwal, MD, PhD, a pediatric nephrologist at Packard Children’s is a major advantage in organ transplantation treatment. Transplant recipients who share the same pattern of genes but are still on conventional medication may be able to reduce or eliminate their lifelong dependence on immunosuppressive drugs. The study may also help physicians determine how best to induce acceptance, or tolerance, of donor organs in all transplant patients, regardless of their gene expression profiles.
Although the anti-rejection medications, known as immunosuppressants, tamp down the immune system enough to permit lifesaving organ transplants, their benefits come at a price. They also quash the body’s natural response to dangerous invaders, such as bacteria and viruses, and to rogue cancer cells. Transplant physicians prescribing immunosuppressants to their patients walk a fine line between avoiding organ rejection and increasing the risk of infection and cancer
The researchers used microarray, or gene chip, technology to compare gene expression patterns in blood samples from 16 healthy volunteers with those from three groups of adult kidney transplant recipients from the United States, Canada and France
Filed under: DNA, DNA diagnostics, Genomics, Pharmacogenomics, biodefense, bioinformatics blog, cancer, clinical genomics, gene expression, gene therapy, genetic medicine, genetics, microaray blog, transgenomics
[...] Scientists from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a pattern of gene expression shared by a small group of patients… …more [...]
My husband had a liver transplant in May of 2003. he is on Prograf 6mgs a day . are you saying he can reduce his dosage and be ok. PROGRAF IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE OF THEM ALLL OVER $800 A MONTH he takes 180 a m onth.
are their any options to prograff in the Natural herb world. or any of the traditioanl immunosupressants.
would love to hear back from someone
concern wife
[...] 2008 by Albin Paul One of the reader had posted a question about my earlier post on genetics of Transplant Organ Rejection so this post is a part answer to her comment, I choose the title american way of life as my first [...]
if only my family knew about this sooner. my father died last year at the age of 56 from a liver transplant rejection. Glad to know hopefully future families won’t have to go through what my family went through. Keep up the great work.