If scientists can figure out how and why this happened, it could sure mean a world of difference for transplant patients.
I’d like to see this repeated on someone else. Otherwise I remain skeptical about how the blood type changed.
Very interesting. I wonder if the donor had immunities the recipient didn’t have or vice versa. Could be interesting to see if the recipient can get chicken pox again or something similar.
Something like this could lead to putting stem cells from the donor into all major transplant recipients.
This opens a can of worms. A healthy person attributes a condition from a donor.
Gonna have to do detailed screens of the donor.
There was a story in the Chicago Tribune yesterday that talked about a study that has been done with kidney transplants. What has been done is that along with the kidney transplant, bone marrow stem cells from the donor are also implanted in the recipient. This apparently causes the recipient’s immune system to recognize the transplanted kidney as “self” and these people have been able to go without long-term immunosuppressive treatments for years.
Amazing.
The article didn't tell what the old and new blood types were. If it went from O to another type or A to AB or B to AB, then it would seem that the marrow might be producing both old and new blood. However if it went in the opposite direction, that means that her own marrow was completely supressed by the new liver. Similarly only a change from positive to negative would be really shocking.
Ummmmmm, Graft Vs Host disease, anyone?
(That's when instead of the patient rejecting the graft, the graft rejects the patient. This is not a good thing!)
Accidental medical miracle involving ADULT stem cells... This is cool!
self bump