“A made-in-B.C. solution to improve organ-matching could revolutionize outcomes for kidney transplant recipients,” read the agency’s description of the project.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Dr. Paul Keown, lead researcher for the pilot project and a University of British Columbia specialist in immunology and transplantation, said the new technology involves genetic sequencing at the molecular level to significantly reduce the risk of a recipient’s immune system rejecting a donor kidney.
It’s long been known that the immune system uses a set of molecules called HLA, or human leukocyte antigens, to distinguish between its own cells and those from a donor organ, leading to possible rejection.
Dr. James Lan, a transplant nephrologist who is involved with the project, said the new method compares small sequences called epitopes, the specific parts of HLA that are recognized by the immune system.
One in three transplants fails over a decade, mainly due to rejection in half the cases, but it’s possible for someone to live with a well-matched kidney for about 30 years, said Lan, medical director of the Immunology Laboratory at Vancouver General Hospital.
It also allows doctors to tailor the amount of immunosuppressant medications to each patient, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach that results in more side effects, including low blood counts, increased risk of infection and cancer, he added.
Lan said patients who have already had multiple failed transplants face a higher risk of rejecting future donor kidneys because their immune system has developed antibodies that mount a more aggressive attack against each subsequent new organ.
The original article contains 957 words, the summary contains 223 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I had no idea the rejection rate was so high. Hopefully this works.
