Stem cells beat kidney rejection

Article
This article discusses a new use of stem cells being tested in Islamabad. I'm pretty sure all of you know what an organ transplant is, but some of you might not know that if the organ doesn't come from a close family member (and sometimes even if it is), it can cause serious complications, most notably the recipient of an organ's immune system recognizing the organ as an "attacker" and attacking the transplanted organ. There are special drugs that recipients of those transplants must take that repress their immune systems, but they have serious complications and would have to be taken every day for the rest of their lives. A new strategy to combat that without medication that is being tested is a few days after the transplant, injecting a small amount of stem cells into the area, in hopes to generate a modified immune system that won't reject the organs. So far, the results have been phenomenal. From the article, "Although the patients started off with the same anti-rejection drugs, the aim was to reduce these slowly, hopefully withdrawing them completely over time. Five out of the eight patients involved in the trial managed to do this within a year." 47-year-old Lindsay Porter, from Chicago, a recipient of the treatment said: "I hear about the challenges recipients have to face with their medications and it is significant. It’s almost surreal when I think about it because I feel so healthy and normal." If this proves to have long-term effectiveness, it could be a huge breakthrough in medical science.