Gene Therapy Techniques Offer Promising Improvements for Lung Transplants

Researchers are conducting experiments regarding lung transplantation and how to make them more effective and successful. Lung transplants have one of the lowest success rates of any organ because they sustain such damage in the time between harvesting and transplantation. Most critically, the lungs suffer from a great deal of inflammation after harvest; this is due to a lack of the IL-10 molecule and this can also cause organ rejection after transplantation. The remaining IL-10 that does exist in the lungs after being harvested is destroyed when they are chilled on ice to preserve the tissue.

The new approach that is being tested to fix these issues involves two steps. First of all, they have developed a dome-like vessel that keeps the lungs at room temperature and circulates a solution containing oxygen and other nutrients. This alone increases chances of success because the lungs are kept alive longer and suffer from less deterioration. The second aspect is performing a special gene therapy on the lungs. This is done through use of a “defanged adenovirus,” which delivers a gene that creates cells that are actually able to produce the essential IL-10 molecule. When tested on human lungs, this IL-10 persisted for 30 days, which means rejection rates will be significantly decreased and overall success rates will improve.

This is a very interesting topic to me, especially since my great-grandfather died from emphysema. Also, most patients that receive lung transplants are suffering from emphysema or cystic fibrosis, so I found that to be particularly interesting as well.

link to article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-lungs29-2009oct29,0,6019138.story

Charlcie Northrop
VTPP434-502