This is some pretty cutting edge stuff, thought people might like this..
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7068514.ece
CLIFFS:
Boy has congenital defect
Doctors take a dead person's trachea, strip it of the cells. Only collagen scaffold is left.
Doctors seed trachea with boy's stem cells
Doctor transplant trachea into boy and do magic to encourage cells to growth.
Boy has trachea now.
From The Times
March 20, 2010
'Milestone moment' as boy undergoes transplant to regenerate trachea
By Sam Lister
A British boy has undergone a groundbreaking operation involving the transplantation of a windpipe that is being regenerated inside his body using his own stem cells.
Scientists described the procedure, carried out on Monday at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as a “milestone moment” in the development of techniques that could allow people to rebuild damaged or transplanted organs inside their bodies.
The operation, which lasted nearly nine hours, involved the removal of the boy’s faulty trachea — the bony tube that connects the nose, mouth and lungs — which was replaced with a donor windpipe.
The organ had been stripped of the donor’s cells to leave a fibrous collagen scaffold that was injected with the child’s stem cells.
The boy, who is aged 10, received the transplant hours later. Doctors said that the stem cells would begin to transform themselves into internal and external tracheal cells within his body over the next month. They added that their patient, whose identity is being protected, was doing well, breathing normally and speaking.
The use of the child’s own stem cells inside his body to build up the donor windpipe ensures that it is not rejected by his immune system. With a normal transplant, the risk of rejection would mean “damping down” the child’s immune system with suppressive drugs.
Addressing a press conference at University College London yesterday, the team of British and Italian scientists described the procedure as a breakthrough for its simplicity in using the “ideal laboratory” of the human body to rebuild the organ.
It follows pioneering surgery conducted in Spain two years ago on Claudia Castillo, 30, who became the first person to receive a transplant organ made from stem cells. She was given a section of tracheal airway rebuilt from stem cells, but using a much more complex and costly process. On that occasion doctors grew the tissue outside the body by rotating the donor graft in a special “bioreactor” before transplanting it into the patient’s body.
In the boy’s case, his body acted as the living bioreactor. The decellularised windpipe was treated with a cocktail of chemicals designed to trigger signals that would allow the tissue to grow in situ.
Professor Martin Birchall, head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London, said that because the regeneration occurred in the human body rather than a laboratory, it cost “tens of thousands pounds rather than hundreds of thousands”. He said the team believed that it would speed the course of organ regeneration, with the possibility of moving into operations involving the larynx or oesophagus.
“We believe it’s a real milestone,” he said. “It is the first time a child has received stem-cell organ treatment, and it’s the longest airway that has ever been replaced. I think the technique will allow not just highly specialised hospitals to carry out stem-cell organ transplants.
“We don’t think it’s going to replace conventional transplants just yet, but already there are certain aspects of conventional transplant surgery it can be applied to. We need to think about how to make regenerative medicine a key part of our healthcare.”
The team included the stem-cell pioneer Paolo Macchiarini, from Careggi University Hospital, Florence, who led the Italian, British and Spanish team at Ms Castillo’s transplant.
The professor was approached by the British team after the boy — who was born with a condition called long segment tracheal stenosis, leaving him with a windpipe only 1mm wide through which he was unable to breathe — suffered an acute episode.
Attempts had been made to patch up his trachea and hold it open with supporting stents. But these eroded, damaging the aorta, the main artery that takes blood out of the heart.
Professor Macchiarini said that he was delighted at the outcome so far. He said that in Ms Castillo’s case it took six months to prepare the transplant organ outside her body, while the boy’s trachea was ready to be implanted in four hours. “This is something that makes tissue regeneration very simple and accessible to everyone.”
He said that the implications for future treatments went beyond just replacing organs. Damaged organs such as lungs, hearts or livers could be repaired by patching them up with stem cells.
“We need to change our philosophy,” Professor Macchiarini said. “The question is do we really need to transplant the entire organ and put the patient on immunosuppression, or can we stimulate stem cells to make it function again?”
Martin Elliott, who led the surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said that the boy was recovering well. “He’s breathing completely for himself and speaking, and he says that it’s easier for him to breathe than it has been for many years.”
The doctors were unable to say when the boy could leave hospital.
Anthony Hollander, of the University of Bristol, who took part in Ms Castillo’s treatment, welcomed the advance, but added that the method was “inherently more unpredictable” than laboratory-regenerated organs.
“The advantage is that it can be performed quickly and cheaply, and so if successful it could be made available to large numbers of patients at relatively low cost.
“The disadvantage is that there is minimal control of the type of stem cells and the number of cells. Also there is a very short time between seeding the cells on to the scaffold.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7068514.ece
CLIFFS:
Boy has congenital defect
Doctors take a dead person's trachea, strip it of the cells. Only collagen scaffold is left.
Doctors seed trachea with boy's stem cells
Doctor transplant trachea into boy and do magic to encourage cells to growth.
Boy has trachea now.
From The Times
March 20, 2010
'Milestone moment' as boy undergoes transplant to regenerate trachea
By Sam Lister
A British boy has undergone a groundbreaking operation involving the transplantation of a windpipe that is being regenerated inside his body using his own stem cells.
Scientists described the procedure, carried out on Monday at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as a “milestone moment” in the development of techniques that could allow people to rebuild damaged or transplanted organs inside their bodies.
The operation, which lasted nearly nine hours, involved the removal of the boy’s faulty trachea — the bony tube that connects the nose, mouth and lungs — which was replaced with a donor windpipe.
The organ had been stripped of the donor’s cells to leave a fibrous collagen scaffold that was injected with the child’s stem cells.
The boy, who is aged 10, received the transplant hours later. Doctors said that the stem cells would begin to transform themselves into internal and external tracheal cells within his body over the next month. They added that their patient, whose identity is being protected, was doing well, breathing normally and speaking.
The use of the child’s own stem cells inside his body to build up the donor windpipe ensures that it is not rejected by his immune system. With a normal transplant, the risk of rejection would mean “damping down” the child’s immune system with suppressive drugs.
Addressing a press conference at University College London yesterday, the team of British and Italian scientists described the procedure as a breakthrough for its simplicity in using the “ideal laboratory” of the human body to rebuild the organ.
It follows pioneering surgery conducted in Spain two years ago on Claudia Castillo, 30, who became the first person to receive a transplant organ made from stem cells. She was given a section of tracheal airway rebuilt from stem cells, but using a much more complex and costly process. On that occasion doctors grew the tissue outside the body by rotating the donor graft in a special “bioreactor” before transplanting it into the patient’s body.
In the boy’s case, his body acted as the living bioreactor. The decellularised windpipe was treated with a cocktail of chemicals designed to trigger signals that would allow the tissue to grow in situ.
Professor Martin Birchall, head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London, said that because the regeneration occurred in the human body rather than a laboratory, it cost “tens of thousands pounds rather than hundreds of thousands”. He said the team believed that it would speed the course of organ regeneration, with the possibility of moving into operations involving the larynx or oesophagus.
“We believe it’s a real milestone,” he said. “It is the first time a child has received stem-cell organ treatment, and it’s the longest airway that has ever been replaced. I think the technique will allow not just highly specialised hospitals to carry out stem-cell organ transplants.
“We don’t think it’s going to replace conventional transplants just yet, but already there are certain aspects of conventional transplant surgery it can be applied to. We need to think about how to make regenerative medicine a key part of our healthcare.”
The team included the stem-cell pioneer Paolo Macchiarini, from Careggi University Hospital, Florence, who led the Italian, British and Spanish team at Ms Castillo’s transplant.
The professor was approached by the British team after the boy — who was born with a condition called long segment tracheal stenosis, leaving him with a windpipe only 1mm wide through which he was unable to breathe — suffered an acute episode.
Attempts had been made to patch up his trachea and hold it open with supporting stents. But these eroded, damaging the aorta, the main artery that takes blood out of the heart.
Professor Macchiarini said that he was delighted at the outcome so far. He said that in Ms Castillo’s case it took six months to prepare the transplant organ outside her body, while the boy’s trachea was ready to be implanted in four hours. “This is something that makes tissue regeneration very simple and accessible to everyone.”
He said that the implications for future treatments went beyond just replacing organs. Damaged organs such as lungs, hearts or livers could be repaired by patching them up with stem cells.
“We need to change our philosophy,” Professor Macchiarini said. “The question is do we really need to transplant the entire organ and put the patient on immunosuppression, or can we stimulate stem cells to make it function again?”
Martin Elliott, who led the surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said that the boy was recovering well. “He’s breathing completely for himself and speaking, and he says that it’s easier for him to breathe than it has been for many years.”
The doctors were unable to say when the boy could leave hospital.
Anthony Hollander, of the University of Bristol, who took part in Ms Castillo’s treatment, welcomed the advance, but added that the method was “inherently more unpredictable” than laboratory-regenerated organs.
“The advantage is that it can be performed quickly and cheaply, and so if successful it could be made available to large numbers of patients at relatively low cost.
“The disadvantage is that there is minimal control of the type of stem cells and the number of cells. Also there is a very short time between seeding the cells on to the scaffold.”
Last edited:
Great stuff.
Facebook
Twitter