Transplant Anti-Rejection Drugs Studied
January 29, 2008
U.S. scientists are using stem cells from kidney donors’ bone marrow to possibly eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs in transplant patients.
After a transplant surgery, anti-rejection drugs for the organ recipient are required but such drugs also present the potential of infection, heart disease and cancer.
If it’s successfully, the new research — led by Dr. Joshua Miller of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine — would mean a dramatic change in post-transplant procedures.
Northwestern, one of four U.S. facilities involved in the research, has received a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to enroll 20 patients in the study.