Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reported on Friday that they had trained the immune systems of a few patients to accept liver transplants without the drugs needed to avoid organ rejection.<\/p>\n
Three of eight patients have now been off the drugs for at least three years, perhaps an early step toward a new approach to transplantation that experts in the field have long hoped for. The study<\/a> was published in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve gone a long way toward proving a principle,\u201d said Dr. William Jarnagin, a cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n \u201cWith further development, it could really be a game changer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Dr. Joohyun Kim, a liver transplant surgeon at Yale who was not involved with the study, said, \u201cEven 10 years ago, people thought \u2018tolerance induction\u2019 was a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Although anti-rejection drugs have made organ transplants possible, they come with grave consequences.<\/p>\n The medications, which suppress the body\u2019s immune response, increase the risks of infection, cancer, high cholesterol levels, accelerated heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure. They can even cause hair loss.<\/p>\n More on Organ Transplants<\/p>\n An Improved System: A crackdown on problems with fairness and safety is achieving results<\/a>, including a big drop in the number of sick patients being passed over for transplants.<\/p>\n Skipped Over in Line: The sickest patients are supposed to get priority for lifesaving transplants. But more and more, they are being skipped<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bungled Organ Retrievals:\u00a0Potential donors endured rushed or premature attempts<\/a>\u00a0to remove their organs. Some were gasping, crying or showing other signs of life.<\/p>\n Courting Overseas Patients:\u00a0Despite an organ shortage, some U.S. hospitals seek out international patients<\/a>, who pay as much as $2 million for a transplant. In recent years, patients from abroad have typically received organs faster than U.S. patients.<\/p>\n