In article <2qnrni$mu5 at rc1.vub.ac.be> tsornas at dec5.ulb.ac.be (Thierry Sornasse) writes:
>From: tsornas at dec5.ulb.ac.be (Thierry Sornasse)
>Subject: Re: immune transplant for treating hiv or organ rejection
>Date: 10 May 1994 11:38:26 GMT
>In article <2qn1j7$67j at eagle.natinst.com>, klopfer at natinst.com (Mike Klopfer) writes:
>|>>|> I read somewhere about transplanting a functioning human immune system
>|> into SCID mice. I was wondering if there are other examples of transplanting
>|> immune systems between species. I was wondering if this could be a potential
>|> treatment for hiv e.g. using the immune sytem of a species that isn't
>|> susceptible to the virus to replace the immune system of the hiv infected
>|> person.
>|>>|> Along this line I've heard of a treatment (maybe it was called Total
>|> Lymphoid Irradiation) using radiation to destroy a persons immune
>|> system. Then the immune system can be restarted from saved stem cells
>|> possibly eliminating rejection of transplanted organs. I was wondering
>|> if something like this is being tried or used? If this is not successfull I
>|> would also be interested in finding out what is the best guess as to why not.
>|>>|> Thanks for your time.
>|>>|> mike
>|>>>Hi Mike,
>>About transplantation of a human immune system in SCID mice it is still difficult
>to restore a complete functionnal immune system. It seems that some important
>functions are restored allowing to get for example functional T cells but I think
>that we are far to really recreate mice with a fully functional human immune
>system. One of the most important problem lies on the fact that the body
>background (hormones, tissues recognition molecules, neurotransmitters) are
>different between species. Since these environment is crucial during the
>development and the evolution of the immune system, I guess that we will not
>succeed in this project in a short time.
>>Your idea about transplanting people suffering from AIDS with an immune system
>from another species looks like science fiction. First, HIV infects other tissues
>than the immune system. It means that a functional "alien" immune system could
>not be sufficient to get rid off all HIV. On the other hand, you could get the
>opposite effect: the restored "alien" immune system could damage severely all
>tissues infected by HIV.
>Another problem is the sensitivity of the transplanted human to new pathogens
>typical for the species of the graft.
>>About the transplantation after total irradiation, it is frequently used on mice
>in laboratory and as far as I know this technique is used for people suffering of
>leukemia.
>>Bye
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