Wonders of Technology - Cell Transplants

[Janet Paterson <paterson@xxxxxx>]

Hello All;

I think we could all use a 'bodyguard' or two like these.

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Gains made toward cell transplants for diabetes
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Copyright =A9 1996 Nando.net
Copyright =A9 1996 Reuter Information Service

WASHINGTON (Jul 4, 1996 9:35 p.m. EDT) - Holding out new hope for=20
diabetics, scientists for the first time have successfully=20
transplanted insulin-producing cells into the pancreas of a mouse.

"We want to emphasise we're still in the early stages," and something=20
that works in induced-diabetes in a rodent may not be successful in=20
human beings, lead researcher Dr. Henry Lau, a transplant surgeon at=20
Johns Hopkins Medical School, said in an interview this week. "But=20
what we have reported is a new way of immunosuppression."

Lau and his colleagues at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where=20
he was until moving to Hopkins in Baltimore, and the University=20
Hospital of Zurich report their findings in Friday's edition of the=20
journal Science.

Past transplant attempts had failed when the mice rejected the graft.=20
This time, the researchers transplanted both the insulin-producing=20
islet cells as well as an altered muscle cell meant to block the death=20
signals the body's immune system tries to send to the foreign cell.

These altered muscle cells acted like "bodyguards" to protect the=20
islets.  In the mice experiments, the implanted cells produced insulin=20
for an average of 80 days and the mice maintained their normal levels=20
of glucose, a blood sugar, said Chris Stoeckert, his collaborator at=20
Children's Hospital.

Although 80 days is a long time in the life of a mouse, it is not yet=20
known how long a parallel procedure might work in humans, or whether=20
it could be a relatively simple outpatient procedure repeated at=20
regular intervals for the diabetic patient.

In insulin-independent diabetes, patients lose all their=20
insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. With no insulin to mop it up,=20
a form of sugar known as glucose reaches dangerous levels in the body.

The new approach to transplant and rejections may also lead to=20
developments that could help people having other kinds of organ and=20
tissue transplants, the scientists said.

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from your=20
sister parkie in paradise
where the frangipani tree at my gate=20
is now dressed in creamy perfumed blossoms

----janet-paterson----49---8----paterson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                                              =20