MECHANISM FOUND BEHIND DRUG-FREE ACCEPTANCE OF TRANSPLANTS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Scientists at Ohio State University may have
discovered how a few rare organ transplant recipients manage to
prevent their bodies from rejecting their new organs without the
help of drugs. In this unusual category of patients -- who
retain healthy function of their transplants even when they go
off immunosuppressive drugs -- the immune system still reacts
normally. However, the system essentially counteracts its own
normal combative response against the donor organ, researchers
found. "It's like two negatives making a positive," said Anne M.
VanBuskirk, research scientist at Ohio State's department of
surgery and lead author of the study. VanBuskirk and her
colleagues reported their findings in a recent issue of the
Journal of Clinical Investigation. A detailed understanding of
the regulatory pattern uncovered by the researchers would help
doctors monitor transplant patients Left to their own devices,
most patients' immune systems wo