Webinar on research into minimizing the need for immunosuppressants

[MooseMom]

I got a letter today from my tx center, The University of Wisconsin - Madison, informing me of a lecture/webinar on June 25th featuring discussion about research into minimizing the need for anti-rejection meds.  Here's the link if you are interested in viewing.  It's free.

http://www.uwhealth.org/surgery/at-the-forefront-patient-education-series/45431#.VXtC2yRj2kk.facebook

[okarol]

Looks interesting. I will register to view as I cannot attend. Thanks.

[SooMK]

Thanks for the link. I've registered for this. It's a very exciting idea and I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

[SooMK]

This was an interesting webinar. Not quite ready for prime time yet. Certain drugs along with donor stem cells would be administered at transplant then 11 days later there would be mild targeted lymph system radiation daily for two weeks. (Correct me if I'm misremembering this.) Immunosuppressive drugs would be given and slowly over 6-9 months tapered off. Possibility for applying this protocol for exisiting transplant recipients yet to be studied. The expense of the drugs and the side effects are the driving force behind this. Exciting advancement.

[Deanne]

Is it being considered only for living donors?

[SooMK]

No, living donor or deceased donor. The bone marrow donations come from all over the world. I didn't realize that bone marrow donations are now much less invasive than they used to be (or at least I was under the impression they weren't easy).

[MooseMom]

It was an interesting webinar despite the fact that most of the research is being done for patients who are about to be transplanted with a living donor organ.  They touched upon the topic of chimerism which, if you recall, was what cariad went through several years ago at Northwestern (her donor was her husband).  Again, this is really for people with a living donor lined up.

There has not yet been much research on how to change the current drug protocol for patients who have already been transplanted and have had their new organ for more than a year, which was disappointing.

Another interesting area of research was the idea of irradiating the entire lymphatic system before transplant in order to prepare the recipient for transplantation.  I think they were looking at weakening the entire immune system by radiation instead of by medication.

The webinar was recorded, so once it is available, I'll try to find a link.

[noahvale]

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