5 ms·
I don’t feel like that’s the most important thing. If we can farm kidneys for folks with kidney failure, rather than rely on a combination of the kindness of l
by eadmund 3y ago
I don’t feel like that’s the most important thing. If we can farm kidneys for folks with kidney failure, rather than rely on a combination of the kindness of live donors and harvesting organs from corpses, it will be a huge step forward, even if recipients still need immunosuppressants (as they do with human organs).
I do wonder if the immunosuppressants for cross-species organs have to be stronger/nastier than for intra-species organs though.
- huytersd 3y agoI didn’t realize you had to take lifelong immunosuppressants with human organs as well. That makes this indistinguishable, provided it keeps working.
- ejolto 3y agoI'm curious, when did you think patients had to take immunosuppressants?
- Fomite 3y agoThere's also a number of autoimmune diseases out there...
- mschuetz 3y agoImmunosuppressants are very commonly used for various diseases that are caused by overreactions or undesired reactions of your immune system. Glucocorticoids, for example, are very widespread for all sorts of stuff (rashes, asthma, allergies, inflammations, ...). Monoclonal antibodies are also getting popular as a way to treat allergic reactions by means such as "killing" your IgE antibodies (They're basically antibodies that, in this instance, are used against your own body's antibodies).
- huytersd 3y agoAutoimmune diseases like lupus