Exceptional cells

Your organs are failing – transplant may be the only answer. But it’s a high risk procedure: your immune system could recognise the foreign body part and reject it. Right now, powerful immunosuppressive drugs are used to prevent rejection, but they can have serious side effects, like cancer and kidney damage. However, researchers Joanna and Kate are exploring an exciting new idea: regulatory T cell therapy.
This involves taking a patient’s own immune suppressive cells, growing and testing them outside the body, then replanting them after a transplant to regulate the immune system.