Machines Like Us

An artificial lymph node has been transplanted into mice, where it successfully produced immune cells. The new form of bioengineered tissue marks a significant step towards transplanting an entire immune system into patients dying of AIDS, cancer or other diseases, say the researchers who carried out the transplant.

Takeshi Watanabe at the RIKEN Institute in Japan and colleagues used a "bioscaffold" made of collagen impregnated with stromal and dendritic cells extracted from the thymus of newborn mice. The entire package—a collagen sponge about 3 to 4 millimetres across—was then implanted into mice with healthy immune systems that had been vaccinated against a harmless antigen (something that triggers an immune response).

Read full story at NewScientist.