Transplant triggers blood-type change

AFP via The Times of India ^ | 24 Jan 2008, 0030 hrs IST | AFP

[CarrotAndStick]

In a first, girl's blood type changes after liver transplant

SYDNEY: An Australian girl spontaneously switched blood groups and adopted her donor's immune system following a liver transplant in the first known case of its type, doctors treating her said on Thursday.

Demi-Lee Brennan was aged nine and seriously ill with liver failure when she received the transplant, doctors at a top Sydney children's hospital said.

Nine months later it was discovered that she had changed blood types and her immune system had switched over to that of the donor after stem cells from the new liver migrated to her bone marrow.

She is now a healthy 15-year-old, Michael Stormon, a hepatologist treating her, said. Stormon said he had given several presentations on the case around the world and had heard of none like it. "It is extremely unusual — in fact we don't know of any other instance in which this happened," Stormon said from the Children's Hospital.

"In effect she had had a bone marrow transplant. The majority of her immune system had also switched over to that of the donor."

Doctors who treated Brennan say she is now only under treatment as an outpatient and are interested to know if the case could have other applications in transplant surgery, where rejection of donor organs by the recipient's immune system is a major hurdle.

[in hoc signo vinces]

Truly an amazing thing...something tells me the change was due, in large part, because the recipient was so young...but I only play an MD on TV...so what do I know?

[RightWhale]

Interesting and not surprising.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

This is very hard to believe, unless it’s a miracle.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Well, never minds; you posted both!

[Paradox]

Not a bad analysis, given another article just posted on FR. Apparently, the immune system can be reprogrammed. Maybe when a person is young, his relatively immature immune system is akin to someone whose immune system has been weakened.

[LibWhacker]

Wife says the change in blood type is new to her, but chimera, where a patient’s immune system adjusts to a new liver and the patient gets to go off his anti-rejection meds permanently, is not uncommon.

[Savage Beast]

Anybody know what her blood type changed from and to?

[airborne]

I had a bone marrow transplant on November 26, 1991.

My blood type changed from O positive to O negative.

16+ years cancer free!!

[ninonitti]

This is very hard to believe, unless it’s a miracle

Check anything by Bruce Lipton PhD or Candance Pert Phd......pretty interesting stuff indeed.

[NonValueAdded]

Ooh ooh ooh ... neat screenplay alert. Man receives a liver transplant from an organ donor. Unbeknown to the recipient, the organs were harvested from a death row prisoner after his execution. Fast forward a few years. the recovered recipient submits a DNA sample for some benign purpose but it is red-flagged as matching an unsolved rape-murder. Hilarity ensues.

Far fetched? Maybe not so after all.

[CarrotAndStick]

Wow, congrats!

[Centurion2000]

Apparently, the immune system can be reprogrammed

you gotta wonder if AIDS researchers will swipe a page from this and try immune system reprogramming for their disease research.

[stuartcr]

That would be great if it works.

[penowa]

Bless you and stay healthy. Wonderful!

[airborne]

Saved by a generous donor, wonderful doctors and the power of prayer!

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 1/24/2008, thanks CarrotAndStick.

[mware]

After my brother had his liver transplant he asked the doctor if his DNA might change. The doctor looked kind of puzzled and said, you know, I don’t know.

[madison10]

I think that has been done...sort of. A person was a chimara. He/she offered different arm for testing of dna after he murdered someone/committed crime. Cannot tell you the show.

[Trillian]

That is pretty interesting.