Immune system ‘neutralized’ to accept incompatible kidney

For the first time in Israel, a man with one type of blood has donated his kidney to his daughter despite her incompatible blood type.

By JUDY SIEGEL
For the first time in Israel, a man with one type of blood has donated his kidney to another person – his daughter –  despite her incompatible blood type.
The successful operation, performed recently at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, was made possible by an unusual process in which the recipient’s immune system was neutralized to prevent it from fighting the donor organ.
The 19-year-old girl, Ortal Mahlev, has suffered for years from renal insufficiency. The only way to save Ortal, who has type B blood, was to receive a kidney from someone with type B or Type O (the universal donor). Her father, who lives in Ramat Hasharon, has type A blood.
Because her condition had seriously deteriorated, the Rabin teamdecided to process her blood so that her immune system would not try todestroy her father’s kidney.
Prof. Eitan Mor and Dr. Alexander Yusis of the transplant department,along with Dr. Ya’acov Orlin of the blood bank, ordered a process ofplasmapheresis to separate her antibodies from the rest of her bloodand return the blood to her body to reduce the risk of rejection. Ortalalso received drugs and blood products to help in this process.
As her father’s kidney is functioning normally in her body, Ortal wasdischarged on Sunday. Mor said that the technique, used in some leadingcenters abroad, is regarded as a breakthrough in organ transplantation,because it expands the supply of suitable organ donations and cansucceed even for the long term with suitable monitoring of antibodieslevels.