Transplantation Society Marks 40th Anniversary

Society has played a key role in transplantation's development from dream to reality

June 25, 2006

Newswise — When the Transplantation Society held its inaugural meeting in Paris in 1966, organ transplantation was considered by many to be a far-fetched solution to an unsolvable problem. In the 40 years since, transplantation has become "one of the most remarkable evolutions of biomedicine of our time," providing life-saving treatment for thousands of patients worldwide. To mark this 40th Anniversary, a special article in the June 15 issue of Transplantation traces the history of the Transplantation Society—a history inextricably intertwined with the past and future of clinical organ transplantation.

The article, titled "Four Decades of International Cooperation, Innovation, Growth and Progress," was authored by Dr. Nicholas L. Tilney of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. Dr. Tilney is President-elect of The Transplantation Society.

By 1966, several attempts to transplant kidneys and other organs had been made — with near-universal failure, but a small number of tantalizing successes. The fact that some of the successes occurred in identical twins spurred discoveries of the immune system's role in rejecting transplants as foreign tissue.

Initial attempts at suppressing the immune system to allow survival of transplanted organs focused on the use of radiation, but this method had high risks and unpredictable results. With the development of azathioprine, the first effective immunosuppressive drug, long-term survival with a transplanted kidney became a reality for the first time. Azathioprine "remained the linchpin of immunosuppressive treatment for the next two decades."

Interest in transplantation grew as the concept of "brain death" opened the way to transplanting kidneys from cadaver donors. Through its biennial meetings and journal Transplantation, the Transplantation Society was a major conduit for the surge of new research in transplantation science. Studies into new approaches to preventing organ rejection led to tissue-typing methods to minimize the immunonologic differences between donor and recipient.

By the late 1970s, kidney transplantation was becoming increasingly accepted as a routine procedure. A powerful new immunosuppressive drug, Cyclosporin A, not only improved the results of kidney transplantation, but also led to growth of other organ transplant procedures — especially the heart and liver.

As successes increased, the demand for transplantation far outstripped the supply of available organs. The "specter of commercialism" arose, including reports of selling organs and wealthy patients moving to the top of the waiting list. The Transplantation Society instituted stringent ethical guidelines in 1985, and continues to lead the way in resisting organ trafficking while seeking ethical new approaches to making transplantation more widely available.

In 2006, with more than 3,000 members from around the world, the Transplantation Society will lead the way into the next generation of advances, including approaches to increasing the supply of donor organs and new cellular and tissue techniques. The Society will also continue to take on the many educational, legal, regulatory, ethical, and public health challenges facing the field, helping "to manage the consequences of the burgeoning global demands and limited number of available organ donations to deliver the benefits of transplantation therapy globally."

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Copyright © 2006 Newswise.

This article posted July 29, 2006.