The Bristol University statement said a segment of trachea, roughly three inches long, was taken from a 51-year-old donor who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Using a new technique developed in Padua University, the trachea was stripped of its donor’s cells over a six-week period “so that no donor cells remained,” the statement said.
At the same time, at Bristol University, stem cells removed from Ms. Castillo’s bone marrow, were grown into “a large population” and used to “seed” the donated windpipe using a new technique developed in Milan to incubate cells.
Four days after the seeding, the graft was used to replace Ms. Castillo’s damaged windpipe.
Normally after transplants there is a high risk of rejection because the recipient’s immune system reacts against the foreign organ. Most transplant patients, thus, use immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.
Expect this to be the first in a series of big news stories on these kinds of therapies. They will start with these kinds of tissue / minor organ replacement, but ultimately this is headed towards replacing major organs like the heart and repairing damage previously thought irreversible to the brain.