Wednesday: what is your topic and research happening currently?
My question pertains to the body's possible rejection of a kidney transplant. Is it possible that gene therapy could manipulate the host's genes to accept or ignore the new organ? There are currently over 80,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, with 3000 new people added to the list each month and 12 people die daily. With these glaring statistics in mind, it is vital that those who are lucky enough to receive a procedure recover fully. If body's immune system detects the antigens on the organ's cells' surface, it will attack it. There are three types of rejection: hyperacurate (immediate), acurate (within a few weeks after the surgery occurred), and chronic rejection (can occur over a period of years). What must be identified is the protein that detects the antigen, and what gene encodes it. In attempts to reduce the risk of rejection, the patient and donner's antigens are paired as closely as possible, however this often results in large discrepancies between tissue similarity. Restriction enzymes are the molecular scissors of the DNA, used in splicing (the deletion or insertion of a section of coding). If it is possible to identify exactly which genes encode for the proteins, signals, and cells that recognize forgiven invaders specifically for the kidney, it could be modified.
https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/Organ-Donation-and-Transplantation-Stats
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000815.htm
http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0000973.html
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