Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Researchers in the UK have successfully engineered fully functional oesophagi in the laboratory and transplanted them into miniature pigs. This significant advancement, detailed in the journal *Nature Biotechnology*, brings new hope for patients like two-year-old Casey Mcintyre, who was born missing 11 centimeters of his oesophagus. Casey’s mother, Silviya, had been informed before his birth about the severe challenges he would face and the numerous surgeries required to manage his condition.
Casey’s treatment involved moving his stomach upward to bridge the absent section of his food pipe, but his recovery has been a long journey. Even now, he relies on a feeding tube while working on improving his ability to swallow. According to Silviya, the repeated surgical interventions have affected Casey’s vocal cords, meaning he is also working to develop speech and make sounds to catch up with typical milestones. His father, Sean, described how they have had to acquire new parenting skills, such as managing feeding through a stomach tube and handling urgent hospital calls, which no new parent typically anticipates.
Approximately eighteen children are born each year in the UK with similar oesophageal defects. The research demonstrated that it is feasible to cultivate and implant the oesophagus, fully restoring its function in living organisms, including the ability to swallow. Notably, the transplanted organs did not require anti-rejection medication as they were grown using the recipient animal’s own cells. The experiments used Göttingen minipigs—a small domestic pig breed—due to their anatomical and cellular similarities to human children.
The process involved removing cells from a donor pig’s oesophagus while preserving the underlying structure, then seeding that scaffold with new cells. The tissue was incubated in a bioreactor, which supplied necessary growth fluids to mature the organ over seven days. Out of eight pigs that received these engineered transplants, five survived up to six months and exhibited healthy muscle, nerve, and blood vessel function. Leading the study, Professor Paolo De Coppi from Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, expressed optimism about offering this treatment to children within five years. He noted that the oesophagus’s complexity and dependence on its own blood supply mean that traditional transplant methods are not feasible, making animal models essential for developing alternatives. He added that this approach is tailored specifically for children, as the graft can grow alongside them and would not be suitable for adult patients with conditions such as oesophageal cancer due to size differences
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.