Replica trachea grown from stem cells

A Giant Step Forward for Regenerative Medicine

For the first time ever, doctors have been able to manufacture a synthetic human organ in a laboratory without using any tissue provided by a human donor. Instead, they used a patient’s own stem cells to create a replica trachea that they then successfully implanted into that patient.

This was fantastic news for the 36-year-old patient whose original trachea was badly damaged by late-stage tracheal cancer, an extremely rare form of cancer. The resulting tumor had grown so large that it nearly completely blocked the cancer victim’s windpipe. Prior to the transplant surgery, the patient had undergone chemotherapy, radiation and traditional surgery, all to no avail. His only other treatment option was the most uncertain; awaiting a suitable organ donor.

Rather than wait an indefinite period of time, the patient’s doctors suggested another possible treatment option; one that had never been tried before. The option to grow a replica trachea using a patient’s own stem cells in a laboratory seemed outrageous at first. But the patient probably felt he had nothing to lose, so off to the lab the doctors went.

They knew what a trachea looked like. They knew its purpose. And they knew that if successful, they would be pioneers in the field of regenerative medicine.

Understanding the manufacturing process

The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a Y-shaped tubular airway. The single end connects to the voice box. The other end divides into separate air tubes that connect to each of the lungs. The trachea lays part way in the throat and part way in the chest and facilitates the passage of air into and out of the lungs.

The first step in manufacturing the synthetic trachea involved creating a framework that resembled an actual human trachea. Spongy, flexible polymers were used in this step. The doctors even added stiff rings in an effort to make the synthetic trachea look as natural as possible.

From there doctors covered the inside and outside of the form in a solution made up of the patient’s own stem cells. The goal with this step was to encourage growth of more stem cells. This step was key since stem cells have an amazing ability to grow and replicate into different types of cells. During this step they received physical as well as chemical messages that instructed them to grow into the type of cells needed in the trachea.

Before long stem cells began growing all over and the framework had come alive. Once doctors were certain the stem cells were thriving, they implanted the laboratory-grown synthetic trachea into the patient. As is not always the case with donor organs, the body accepted the synthetic organ grown with the patient’s own stem cells.

How long did it take?

Creating the synthetic trachea took less than two weeks, which is considerably shorter than the time it takes to find a suitable organ donor.

Does success mean that obtaining a replacement organ could soon be as simple as ordering a replacement part for your car?

It’s possible, and that is pretty amazing!