JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Australian scientists have made a discovery that may one day remove the need for a lifetime of toxic immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants.

Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have successfully tested a method of adjusting the immune system for just long enough to receive a tissue transplant and accept it as ‘self’. At no stage, during or after the procedure, is there any need for immunosuppressive drugs.

Lead by Professor Jonathon Sprent, the research team used a special immune boosting “complex” to successfully transplant islet cells into diabetic mice without the need of immunosuppression.

Read more...