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Essay / Argumentative Essay on Xenotransplantation - 1955
No medical procedure is perfect, and when it comes to organ transplants, perfection is still far on the horizon. Our bodies are designed to be efficient and productive, while constantly being challenged and evolving. In the case of organ transplants from a donor to a recipient, problems almost always arise. Hyperacute, acute, and chronic transplant rejections are defined as the three possible negative outcomes of human organ transplantation. A disease defined as graft-versus-host disease characterizes other problematic situations arising from human transplantation. Human transplantation is far from perfect, and ever-increasing research into xenotransplantation is beginning to offer hope for a more effective and more readily available option. Inside the bones of every human being is a substance crucial for survival called bone marrow. In the bone marrow, many different processes take place every second of every day to help provide the body with the mature, efficient cells and molecules needed to stay healthy. Also inside the bone marrow are cells called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs. These HSCs contain genetic traits used to form many substances in the body. When these HSCs are defective, major problems will arise in the person. Today, we are able to transplant these HSCs into the recipient, replacing their defective stem cells with healthy donor cells. This process is applicable after the recipient has undergone rigorous chemotherapy and irradiation of the defective HSCs. GVHD is a major complication of HSC transplantation, in which mature donor T cells recognize the recipient tissue as foreign (1). This recognition can lead to serious complications, including liver disease. As with graft rejection, MHC mismatch results in problematic outcomes for the recipient. Because this is so common, immunosuppressants are still used in HSC transplants to avoid further complications. Specifically, parasitic worms have been discussed and used to help people with autoimmune diseases. If a worm can suppress the immune system enough to allow the body to stop attacking itself and accept the microbiota within it, why can't a worm also be used to suppress the immune system and cause it to to accept a newly transplanted organ? The worms act to initiate a nonspecific inflammatory response, called the Th1 motif, which in turn increases the specific attack response of T cells in the body (6). As we know, immunosuppressive medications work in the same way to trick the immune system into slowing down. The options here are unlimited, and the likelihood of obtaining a new form of immunosuppression during our lifetime is very high.