Breakthrough kidney transplant operation could avoid need for immunosuppressant drugs

Three children with a rare genetic kidney disease successfully underwent a breakthrough transplant that did not require subsequent use of immunosuppressants.

A team from Stanford University in the Bay Area performed these surgeries three years ago on children with Schimke’s immune-bone dysplasia (SIOD), a condition that inhibits a person’s ability to fight infections.

For this procedure, children are not only transplanted from the same donor, but also in stem cell and bone marrow transplants.

Although these children have not yet recovered from their condition, they are in a much healthier and safer place than they were before the surgery and do not have to risk taking immunosuppressants.

Working on these cases, the team hopes that the results of these three cases will help the 90,000 Americans currently waiting for a kidney transplant.

The sibling pair received a double immunity/solid organ transplant from their parents in a groundbreaking surgery that doctors hope could be built to help others with kidney disease.

Kruz, 8, and Paizlee Davenport, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, are siblings with SIOD, which is extremely rare for a condition that has only a dozen active cases worldwide.

In 2019, their parents took them across the country to Stanford in hopes that the groundbreaking treatment recommended by world-renowned school doctors could help their children, NBC reported.

Regular transplants can be difficult to obtain because matches are rare and difficult to find.

In addition, as long as there is a foreign organ in the body, there is an obligation to take drugs that suppress the immune system.

However, there are risks associated with these drugs, including an increased risk of high blood pressure, serious symptoms from cancer and viral infections, and possible death.

For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, transplant recipients were considered a high-risk group.

If you do not take these drugs, the immune system will recognize the foreign body and attack it as a result.

Dual immunity/solid organ transplant trains the body not to attack the organ by first transplanting stem cells to train it.

As a result, a kidney transplant can occur without the need for immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of the recipient’s life.

Both children are now living happily and healthily, despite having SIOD and not needing immunosuppressive drugs.

Both children received stem cell and organ donation from their families, and the operations were successfully completed three years ago.

The operation is not without risk, but it is not a perfect solution either.

Although the surgery significantly improved the family’s quality of life three years later, it did not relieve all concerns.

A simple kidney transplant is not enough to completely cure SIOD, and children may need another transplant at some point in their lives.

Those with more unfortunate experiences before serving as a base for the Stanford team weren’t even the first men to undergo surgery.

Five children with SIOD had previously had this type of surgery.

However, four of them died either because of the kidney attacking body tissues or because of toxic drugs given to shut down the body’s immune system before surgery.

However, Stanford doctors have learned from these experiences. For this operation, they tailored the doses of the toxic drugs to suit each child.

They also modified the transplanted stem cells to prevent them from attacking the baby’s immune system after the transplant.

Kruz and Paizlee now lead normal, healthy lives without the need for immunosuppressants, a fact that seemed impossible a few years ago.