Posted on 06/17/2002 1:38:00 PM PDT by sourcery
IN a world first, Melbourne scientists have successfully grown an organ from stem cells.
A team from Monash Medical School grew a functioning thymus, a small organ that is critical to the immune system. Human trials could begin within two years. Stem cells are the body's building blocks and have unlimited capacity to grow and replace all the cells within a particular tissue or organ.
"When I realised what we had finally done after 15 years of research, I went weak at the knees," Professor Richard Boyd said.
He said understanding the thymus, located near the heart, was the holy grail of immunology.
Professor Boyd believes the discovery will be an important part of a cure for many diseases of the immune system such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. It should also help prevent rejection in people who have an organ transplant.
Professor Boyd referred to the thymus as the fountain of youth.
"Without a functioning immune system you get a disease called death,"he said.
"This organ, along with bone marrow, is the engine room of the immune system.
"It is the key to good health because without it, the body has no protection against any viruses."
Professor Boyd said despite its importance for immunity, the thymus went into hibernation naturally once humans reach puberty.
"This may be why many auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancers and infections increase in adults."
Professor Boyd said his team, led by Dr Jason Gill, was working on rebuilding the immune system by "rebooting" the thymus into action.
The Monash scientists put thymus stem cells into the kidney cavity of a mouse.
"To see the thymus grow, complete and working, was exciting," Professor Boyd said.
"We were looking at the missing link, that final piece of the jigsaw."
Professor Boyd said the mouse immune system was similar to a human's.
"The clinical trials indicate that the human thymus responds in the same way as a mouse, which is why we are confident this will translate very easily to humans," he said.
The thymus produces, educates and distributes special white cells called T lymphocytes (T-cells) which help to controlthe immune system and fight infection.
But T-cells are destroyed when cancer patients undergo chemotherapy and also by the AIDS virus. The cellsare also suppressed in people who have had organ transplants.
There has been limited success with thymus transplants, which are usually rejected by recipients. Stem cell therapy may offer a more reliable alternative.
Professor Boyd said he was confident the transition from animal to human clinical trials would be quick – "because it has to be".
He said the discovery fits "beautifully" with the global picture of Melbourne as a world leader in stem cell research.
"This really is a Melbourne story. It was created by Melbourne scientists and its international commercial capabilities are being explored by Norwood Abbey, a Melbourne-based biotechnology company that has exclusive rights to the science."
Professor Boyd said the international science journal Nature Immunology would publish details of the research today.
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Hmmm..., seems to me that a carpenter from Nazareth already shared that secret with us....
I hope I'm not around to see it. You can kiss your quality of life goodbye if it ever happens.
And that's just one possibility...
I think it may be time to invest in a certain Australian biotech company!
Right, as soon as clinical immortality becomes a reality it will immeadeatly become a goverment entitlement. I can immagine the Demonrats campaign slogan for 2040. Lets increase taxes to 100% so no one will have to grow old and die, ever!
Here's the rub: "The clinical trials indicate that the human thymus responds in the same way as a mouse, which is why we are confident this will translate very easily to humans," he said.
IOW, they're not there yet. This is a marketing release.
Does this mean stem cells extracted from the thymus? Or, embryonic stem cells stimulated to be thymus cells. As it reads, it seems to be the former. The answer is critical to the argument over growing embryos to get stem cells (wrong way as far as I am concerned).
It won't be me writing the check for the sales cost.
Hey, if we can grow a thymus, we can grow a hamburger. :-)
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