Study Suggests Breakthrough in Organ Transplants

Los Angeles Times

Abraham Shaked, MD, PhD, director of the Penn Transplant Center and chief of the division of Transplantation Surgery, is quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about a new study published this week suggesting that patients receiving an organ that's less than a perfect match can be protected against rejection by a second transplant — this time of the organ donor's imperfectly matched stem cells. Shaked said despite the success detailed in the paper, uncertainties persist: It's not clear, for one thing, whether patients who are enabled to tolerate a mismatched kidney also have weakened "early warning" responses to infections and cancers. Still, he called the results "absolutely remarkable" and "beyond any expectations." Read More