The world's first research on humans with the transplantation of organoids delivers good results

The world's first research on humans with the transplantation of organoids delivers good results

The research team at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) announced on July 7 that it had achieved the world's first clinical transplant of a "mini-organ (also called organoid)" in a patient with "ulcerative colitis (UC)." UC causes inflammation and ulcers (sores) in your digestive tract. It can be debilitating and sometimes lead to life-threatening complications. UC belongs to a group of diseases called “inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).” The number of patients is increasing in Japan and in the world is estimated at about 220,000 and 5,000,000. The usual treatment is to suppress the inflammation with medication, but in severe cases the entire colon may be removed.

If our initial human research with organoid transplantation yields good results, we expect to advance the development of organoid medicine for intractable digestive tract diseases such as Crohn's disease.”

Dr. Mamoru Watanabe, Vice President and Distinguished Professor of Tokyo Medical & Dental University

Dr. Ryuichi Okamoto, Professor of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, said: "We set out to develop new methods to treat intractable diseases. This treatment should demonstrate efficacy and safety as quickly as possible and deliver it to patients." If the team's efforts are successful, the mucosa can regenerate and lead to radical healing of UC.

The clinical research began by collecting healthy colonic mucosa from the patient's environment and culturing it for about a month to form spherical organoids about 0.1 to 0.2 mm in diameter. On July 5, an organoid was transplanted into the colon of the same patient using colonoscopy. The patient did well and was discharged on July 6.

In previous experiments with mouse models, the team confirmed that when the cells were cultured in organoids and then transplanted, the mucous membranes regenerated in about a month and the clinical course improved, while the stem cells alone were not transplanted because they could not be cultured in vitro.

Because this clinical trial uses the patient's own cells, there is the advantage of no transplant rejection. Additionally, since colonoscopy is used for collection and transplantation, no laparotomy is required and the treatment can be performed minimally invasively.

After this transplant, a medical examination will be carried out at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. The patient will be monitored for up to one year to check safety and effectiveness. Up to eight patients will undergo further organoid transplantation.

Source:

Tokyo University of Medicine and Dentistry

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