Really odd transplant side effect

[gambitt]

Australian girl switched blood type after transplant

Demi-Lee Brennan was aged nine and seriously ill with liver failure when she received the transplant, doctors at a top Sydney children's hospital told AFP.

Nine months later they discovered she had changed blood types and that her immune system had switched over to that of the donor after stem cells from the new liver migrated to her bone marrow. (http://www.physorg.com/news120396291.html)

:eek:

That's super unusual. They not sure WHY it happened, they think they can guess HOW it happened.

Possible implications are, simply stunning.

[Xecutiona]

this can either be a good argument toward the effectiveness of stem cell research and use

but it can also be a bad one....cellular memory?(well changing the bood type of the recipient)...who is to say that stem cells(embryonic) carrying a hereditary immune disorder or disease cant "spread" the illness this way? or affecting the way the mind works altering the hormones etc

[gambitt]

I thought the same about the need for more stem cell research.


As for the hereditary disease, we've mapped the human geneome. We've made artifical chromasomes. We can rebuild him, stronger, faster, bette... uhm... I mean ... :confused: We can scan the genetic code of the cells we're giving a person to ensure that they're "clean".:o

I dont think it likely to give a person a genetic disorder, as they SHOULD still have their own copies of the genes being expressed somewhere. As far as I can tell this will only work on someone who's got a weakened immune system to begin with.

I dont see it altering your mind, simply because your mind isnt really controlled by your genes.

Instead I see it fixing problems, genetic or ones developed after birth. I mean, just taking this example with blood. We could fix sickle cell with something as simple as a few injections, maybe.

.... and of course, there's always the ability to spread my own genetic code to all living humans, making perfect replicas of mysel.... :confused: sorry about that I'll go take my meds now. :o

[ecktt]

That is amazing.

[opium]

i would ah say she dead!!!!

first u have to be de same blood type or yuh mc antibodies will KILL anyting with different tags
second it would be possible to change blood type BUT, yuh organs will fail soon enough because yeah some time ago your antigens changed into someting else

only and possible way was that she is turned in to a AB+ where she was either A or B

that is my story and i sticking evo-stick to it

[gambitt]

I really dont know what blood type she had before. What you said would apply for a normal person's immune system, but that's where the assumption fails. Remember that they use immunosuppressives after transplants to prevent rejections. That and the docs say she had a real bad infection after the transplant that meant that her immune system was more busy fighting off the disease rather than the donor's stem cells and the blood cells produced.

I thought something similar about the A/B -> AB that you suggested above, but I suppose it could just as easily be O -> A/B/AB and more likely too (more people have type o than A or B, though I suspect that that's changing as we speak).

Either way, still a very strange result, I still find it incredible really, but I guess it just means that I have to change what I'm willing to believe.

[permabasher]

thats not only amazing its inconceivable.... yal serious switch blood type that so close to impossible it not funny. switching blood type even if it were possible i suspect it wod have long term effect becuz ur body works on a rhythm a familiarness with ur blood chemistry and how certain things react to it. organs would have to adapt and even if they cod u just cant do that.. ppl organs reject blood and other organs based on blood type changing ur blood type means u r able to get organ transplants from other ppl now if it were possible some of the richest ppl / medical scientist would have already exploited it and if it is possible then something in her blood cod save a lot of ppl...... did they say from what blood type to the other e.g.. O positive to o negative?

[Xecutiona]

what you fail to consider is that all medical science came about as the result of a "fluke" or plain old trial and error(example, chemotherapy came about because of mustard gas...it was developed from the stockpile after the wars)

just because it was viewed as impossible 10 years ago doesnt negate the fact that it happened here...if the person dies or not is up to higher powers, but the fact that it HAPPENEd proves that it is possible...and its not the blood type thats really interesting, its how the person's body reacted to the stem cells, taken into the bone marrow and changing the operation of the body

[eddoes]

the possibilities are endless, maybe we can be like mandingo :p

[bill]

the possibilities are endless, maybe we can be like mandingo :p

u might need a lil more than just that

[gambitt]

if it were possible some of the richest ppl / medical scientist would have already exploited it

You cannot exploit something that you do not know to exist. ;) Not even the richest of people could have bought themselves an effective antibiotic before the 1940s. (Ok so they could have mucked about with sulfonamides and crap like that but lets be realistic.)



just because it was viewed as impossible 10 years ago doesnt negate the fact that it happened here...if the person dies or not is up to higher powers, but the fact that it HAPPENEd proves that it is possible...and its not the blood type thats really interesting, its how the person's body reacted to the stem cells, taken into the bone marrow and changing the operation of the body

Exactly. I hope that this gives them the kick in the pants they need to get some more pure and practical research in. Who knows Demi-Lee could be the next Louise Brown... well you know what I mean. :D

[Xecutiona]

You cannot exploit something that you do not know to exist. ;) Not even the richest of people could have bought themselves an effective antibiotic before the 1940s. (Ok so they could have mucked about with sulfonamides and crap like that but lets be realistic.)

and even this they got from just funghi

[trinithemc]

Biology is still one of the most promising fields of science cause we know relatively little about anything .

I think once we are able to make our own forms of life for industrial scale purposes e.g. spray some bacteria on rocks and have them extract uranium, gold etc. for you .

Everyone is different , some people have been smoking their whole life and at the age of 90 have no cancers, others are immune to some strains of HIV.

This might just be a 1 in a million fluke .

[opium]

is true, strange tings does happen, we could study all kinds of cool stuff but it have no money into it, all dey want is to make money