[srijana]

Here is something interesting going on at University of Massachussetts:


"Transplantation provides a means to treat not only the primary defect in diabetes (the absent islets of Langerhans), but also the organs damaged through secondary complications (such as the kidney). Our laboratory has demonstrated that donor specific transfusion and treatment with anti-CD40L antibody results in permanent islet allograft survival and prolonged skin allograft survival in mice. We have also observed that this system can prolong xenografts of rat tissues in mice. Our method of tolerance induction does not cause generalized immunosuppression.

Prior to clinical application of our two element protocol, the feasibility of its effectiveness is being tested in primates. Our preliminary results suggest that our approach induces permanent allograft acceptance."
Principal Investigator is: Aldo Rossini