Boning Up on Organ Transplants

With an immune system designed to destroy invading organisms, patients receiving organ transplants often run the risk of becoming their own worst enemies.

But by transferring some of the donor’s bone marrow along with the organs, two Medical School researchers have found a way to fool immune cells into accepting foreign tissue as well. Four of the five study’s subjects received successful transplants.

Researchers believe the new procedure, which begins with a partial destruction of the patient’s bone marrow using a drug, may decrease organ rejection. The bone marrow gives rise to immune cells that help the body identify invaders. If the foreign marrow produces foreign cells, the study’s authors hypothesized that the body will recognize the transplant as one of its own.

But the researchers, David H. Sachs and A. Benedict Cosimi, are looking beyond mere human transplants. They’ve already filed a patent for transplants from animals to humans.

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