Dang! As someone who will need a kidney down the road, I had hope this would work. But kudos to her for being willing to give this a try - clinical studies are not something many wouldn’t do, but it’s so important for advancing medical research
I don’t know about the pig kidney but my grandma had the very first heart valve replacement from a pig back in the 60’s and she lived with it for 20 years and she didn’t squeal or roll around in mud at all😊
I mean... it's exceptionally long though? This technology is in its infancy, the fact that she survived at all, much less for this long, much less is now back on dialysis without any harmful effects from the transplant, is INCREDIBLE. It's ground-breaking. It's borderline miracle stuff.
That sucks. As someone on dialysis, I look forward to hearing of any breakthroughs and medical advances when it comes to treating kidney disease. This is an unfortunate setback.
I don't support "human cloning", I do support "ethical cloning". Just consider for a moment if they could clone an organ specifically from her DNA. We wouldn't be dealing with rejection — there could be a remote possibility. I could be WRONG. However, don't think she'd reject her own DNA. -ONE.💯
Yes, this is what I'm referencing. What I'm NOT clear about is the rejection rate... After all, this does in FACT come from you; however, its origin is a test tube — so to speak. I have NO idea, what the success rate of that process/procedure would be. -ONE.?🤔
Well they haven't really done it with people yet, but they did use stem cell treatments to cure diabetes in China. So I imagine it would be 1-1 since it's just a clone of the organ that is already there. The reason organs get rejected is because your body recognizes it's a different genetic code.
However, it's very promising — from what I can ascertain thus far. The ethical question is who will benefit? Will the public have access to the science? Will the science be disrupted due to funding issues here in the US? Will it become Frankenstein abroad? -ONE.?🤔
I think there will be cases where some harvesting/sequencing of the genetic material is flawed. This is why I say there could be a slim margin for error/rejection. -ONE.💯
I believe they're further along in the process that we believe they are. What's shared in the public & done in a controlled environment such as a lab are 2 entirely different things. -ONE.💯
The preliminary groundwork is there. In this case, the use of stem cells were successful. Nevertheless, with an organ creation there are intricate scientific details & data involved. Any error can possibly cause rejection. It's a delicate process from my understanding. -ONE.💯
Honestly, it doesn't! The fact that the kidney worked AT ALL, much less for as long as it did, is a gigantic leap forward wrt transplant technology and our ability to help people with organ failure. For this one woman, she will have to go back on dialysis (which does indeed suck) but there's hope!
I was thinking 130 days this time hopefully year for the next etc etc. my little brother is diabetic so new stuff like this always makes me happy we are still making strides in some places at least
Well we used to use all sorts of animal products in medicine: sutures,insulin etc. We still do actually .
It gave her nearly 6 months of dialysis free life. Time perhaps for a precious kidney match?
Not bashing the surgery, it was obviously successful in that she lived with a functional kidney for a while, still crazy that an organ transplant with a very distant species. I can understand certain hormones working as intended, but a whole organ is wild
I wish they could find her a good match - her specific histological history makes it difficult. She is a real hero for trying.
My sister passed the other year; her kidneys, lungs & liver went to 4 different recipients. .
Choose to be an organ donor on your driver’s license or state ID card.
“Doctors aren't yet sure why, but it happened after they reduced the medication Looney, from Gadsden, Alabama, was taking to tamp down her immune response to the pig kidney.”
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https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/12/429211/scientists-take-first-steps-toward-growing-organs-scratch
It gave her nearly 6 months of dialysis free life. Time perhaps for a precious kidney match?
My sister passed the other year; her kidneys, lungs & liver went to 4 different recipients. .
Choose to be an organ donor on your driver’s license or state ID card.
“Doctors aren't yet sure why, but it happened after they reduced the medication Looney, from Gadsden, Alabama, was taking to tamp down her immune response to the pig kidney.”
Context clues would give you this answer
You're on very high immunosuppression for the first (usually) 3 months or so and then the target level is reduced somewhat.
There are competing factors at play that need to be balanced to maximize survival. 1/2
But high immunosuppression is, of course, its own risk factor for negative health outcomes.
Finally, at least one of the best anti-rejection drugs (prograf) is also kidney-toxic.
So it's not so simple. 2/2