Spleen transplantation and restoration of immune function
Current therapies for spleen auto-transplantation involve grafting whole tissue fragments into the patient. This procedure is highly inefficient, with almost all grafted tissue dying before new tissue regeneration commences. In addition, these grafts irregularly restore full spleen immunoarchitecture, leaving patients with a weakened immune system, especially against blood-borne pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae.
We have developed a technique for preparing graft tissue that removes unnecessary hematopoietic cells, but retains stromal tissue for transplantation. We have shown this reproducibly regenerates spleen tissue with full immune structures, which actively functions in adaptive immune responses. Our current research extends the functional assessment of these tissues to IgM memory B cell mediated-immunity, which is critical for protecting against S. pneumoniae. We are also investigating the viability of a stromal tissue bank which can be accessed for on-demand spleen transplantation.
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Researchers: Jonathan Tan, Karin Tourle, Katie Powell, Jae Sung Lim, Sibi Narayanan