Webloggin » Another Blow to Embryonic Stem Cell Hypocricy

For years we have been arguing that there is no reason to go down the path of embryonic stem cell solutions when other stem cell research is showing more promise. Today we learn of another advance related to non-embryonic stem cell based transplants.

PARIS — Physicians at four European universities have successfully transplanted a human windpipe, using stem cells from the recipient’s own bone marrow to reline a donor trachea and prevent its rejection by her immune system, according to an article in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The operation, performed in June, was the first to use stem cells in transplanting an airway, and is considered an important advance because it allowed the surgeons to replace a larger segment than had generally been possible in the past. The hope is that the stem cells will transform themselves into the kind of cells that normally line the windpipe and carry out important functions such as clearing mucus out of the airway.

Similar techniques using other types of cells from patients have been used to fashion bladders and also to grow skin for grafting.

This is important. While Democrats blocked valuable non-embryonic stem cell research for the sake of political posturing scientists struggled in their quest to continue to research these promising approaches. There is much work to be done.

Ms. Castillo was hospitalized in March because her left bronchus — the tube connecting the windpipe to the left lung — was so badly damaged by tuberculosis that she was unable to walk more than a few steps at a time, according to a statement from Bristol University.

“The only conventional option remaining was a major operation to remove her left lung which carries a risk of complications and a high mortality rate,” the statement said.

“We are terribly excited by these results,” said Prof. Paolo Macchiarini of the University of Barcelona, who performed the operation. “Just four days after transplantation the graft was almost indistinguishable from adjacent normal bronchi.”

Moreover, two months after the surgery, lung function tests on Ms. Castillo “were all at the better end of the normal range for a young woman,” the Bristol University statement said.

Martin Birchall, a professor at the university, said the transplant showed “the very real potential for adult stem cells and tissue engineering to radically improve their ability to treat patients with serious diseases. We believe this success has proved that we are on the verge of a new age in surgical care.”

The Bristol University statement said a segment of trachea, roughly three inches long, was taken from a 51-year-old donor who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Using a new technique developed in Padua University, the trachea was stripped of its donor’s cells over a six-week period “so that no donor cells remained,” the statement said.

At the same time, at Bristol University, stem cells removed from Ms. Castillo’s bone marrow, and cells taken from one of her lungs, were grown into “a large population” and used to “seed” the donated windpipe using a new technique developed in Milan to incubate cells. Her cells embedded themselves in the cartilage of the donor’s trachea.

Four days after the seeding, the graft was used to replace Ms. Castillo’s damaged bronchus.

Normally after transplants there is a high risk of rejection because the recipient’s immune system attacks the foreign organ. Most transplant patients, thus, need immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.

“The patient has not developed antibodies to her graft, despite not taking any immunosuppressive drugs,” the statement from Bristol University said.