An exciting research breakthrough has opened new doors to reducing organ rejection after transplant operations. UBC medicine professor Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu and his team at the Centre for Blood Research and Life Sciences Institute have developed a special polymer coating, used to coat blood vessels on the organ to be transplanted. The discovery can potentially eliminate the requirement of post-operative drugs which are used to counteract the immune system’s hostile response to the new organ and often have serious side effects.
As Dr. Kizhakkedathu explains, “Blood vessels in our organs are protected with a coating of special types of sugars that suppress the immune system’s reaction, but in the process of procuring organs for transplantation, these sugars are damaged and no longer able to transmit their message.”
Studies conducted on mice by scientists at Simon Fraser University and Northwest University confirmed the polymer coating is effective in resisting inflammation and rejection. Tests performed on new-generation immune cells at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute supports the findings.
Studies conducted on mice by scientists at Simon Fraser University and Northwest University confirmed the polymer coating is effective in resisting inflammation and rejection. Tests performed on new-generation immune cells at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute supports the findings.
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The work done by Dr. Kizhakkedathu and the team at the Centre for Blood Research and Life Sciences Institute is an example of research that addresses the problems facing society that UBC is supporting through Strategy 10: Research Culture.