Resource 12B Report A – Cloning and regenerative medicine
Currently, organs and tissues from living donors are transplanted in order to replace those which are failing or destroyed. However, in many cases the demand for replacement organs far outstrips supply, to the point where they are for sale, offered by poverty-stricken donors in third-world countries. A new method of organ replacement, using deceased donors, has now been developed. It has been used successfully in an operation to provide a patient with a new trachea. This process replaces the DNA in the donated organ, using stem cells generated from the recipient’s tissue. In the case of the trachea transplant it took almost six weeks to complete. Because of the DNA transfer, the recipient’s body recognized the transplanted trachea as her own and did not reject it. This is a major development, which holds out the potential of using the technique for other hollow organs, such as lungs, in the near future.
Underton R, Ahmad S. Cloning and regenerative medicine. American Journal of Medical Ethics. 2007 May 31;53(11): 132–9.
