The holy grail of transplant medicine for years has been acquired immunity, where you convince the immunesystem not to attack the transplant. Still hoping we see progress there, but this looks like a viable alternative to a donor transplant.
“ Eventually, scientists plan to fill the bioreactor with different kidney cells that perform vital functions like balancing the body’s fluids and releasing hormones to regulate blood pressure – then pair it with a device that filters waste from the blood.”
The filter won't be biological, so that part shouldn't trigger an immune response either.
They do say patients would still need EPO injections, since the device doesn't contain the type of cells required for that. And with sufficient funding they're still 4-5 years away from clinical trials, so they seem to agree there's a lot of work to go.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,33&q=%22pi...
Like, my organs are kind of crummy, so idk if anyone would benefit from them as a transplant. I just want my body to be useful!
It sounds like something you would do through an advanced directive or your will, but I'm not an attorney.
This has resulted in cures for patients with MS, but is really risky and doesn’t scale.
As per articles a while ago like this:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211112-the-people-with-...