Lungs Deemed Too Damaged for Transplanting Repaired With Outside-the-Body Gene Therapy
Lung transplants lag behind other major organ transplants in number of procedures performed and in how long patients with transplants live post-op. Researchers at Toronto's University Health Center have developed a procedure for protecting and repairing lungs as they are stored before a transplant operation.
Only approximately 15% of lungs from healthy organ donors are usable for transplant. This is caused by several things. One of the major problems is the lungs being damaged as the patient is being treated. Another problem is inflammation; as the brain dies, the lungs generally become inflamed. The gene interleukin-10 attempts to reverse the inflammation, but the lungs are immediately put on ice after they are removed from the donor. This low temperature environment stops the gene's ability to reduce inflammation. The solution to this problem is to place the donor lungs into a oxygen rich chamber instead of on ice. The oxygen environment keeps the lungs much more healthy than leaving them in ice. In addition, the IL-10 gene is able to reduce inflammation in the lungs. The doctors at Toronto University found that using adenovirus gene therapy to administer large amounts of IL-10 gene to the lungs found favorable results.
In the experiments performed, both pig and human lungs responded favorable to the treatment. The pig lungs were transplanted back into pigs after they were left in the chamber for a few days and showed greater function than lungs left on ice. Lungs that have undergone this treatment have not been transplanted into a human yet, but doctors propose that as the next logical step and expect it to take place in the next year. This new method of lung transplant shows great promise in increasing the number of lungs available for transplant and in increasing the life span of patients who have received lung transplants.
I found this particular article interesting because up until it was mentioned in class the other day, I did not know that lung transplants were performed. Then reading this article I found that they have a much lower success rate than other organ transplants and I found that pretty interesting. Research in areas such as gene therapy show a lot of promise for treatment in the years to come.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570090,00.html
David Szafron
Only approximately 15% of lungs from healthy organ donors are usable for transplant. This is caused by several things. One of the major problems is the lungs being damaged as the patient is being treated. Another problem is inflammation; as the brain dies, the lungs generally become inflamed. The gene interleukin-10 attempts to reverse the inflammation, but the lungs are immediately put on ice after they are removed from the donor. This low temperature environment stops the gene's ability to reduce inflammation. The solution to this problem is to place the donor lungs into a oxygen rich chamber instead of on ice. The oxygen environment keeps the lungs much more healthy than leaving them in ice. In addition, the IL-10 gene is able to reduce inflammation in the lungs. The doctors at Toronto University found that using adenovirus gene therapy to administer large amounts of IL-10 gene to the lungs found favorable results.
In the experiments performed, both pig and human lungs responded favorable to the treatment. The pig lungs were transplanted back into pigs after they were left in the chamber for a few days and showed greater function than lungs left on ice. Lungs that have undergone this treatment have not been transplanted into a human yet, but doctors propose that as the next logical step and expect it to take place in the next year. This new method of lung transplant shows great promise in increasing the number of lungs available for transplant and in increasing the life span of patients who have received lung transplants.
I found this particular article interesting because up until it was mentioned in class the other day, I did not know that lung transplants were performed. Then reading this article I found that they have a much lower success rate than other organ transplants and I found that pretty interesting. Research in areas such as gene therapy show a lot of promise for treatment in the years to come.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570090,00.html
David Szafron
posted by dszafron at 1:32 PM
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