Strategies for organ preservation: Current prospective and challenges

Abstract

In current therapeutic approaches, transplantation of organs provides the best available treatment for a myriad of end-stage organ failures. However, shortage of organ donors, lacunae in preservation methods, and lack of a suitable match are the major constraints in advocating this life-sustaining therapy. There has been continuous progress in the strategies for organ preservation since its inception.Current strategies for organ preservation are based on the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution using the machine perfusion technique, which allows successful preservation of intra-abdominal organs (kidney and liver) but not intra-thoracic organs (lungs and heart). However, novel concepts with a wide range of adapted preservation technologies that can increase the shelf life of retrieved organs are still under investigation. The therapeutic interventions of in vitro-cultured stem cells could provide novel strategies for replacement of nonfunctional cells of damaged organs with that of functional ones. This review describes existing strategies, highlights recent advances, discusses challenges and innovative approaches for effective organ preservation, and describes application of stem cells to restore the functional activity of damaged organs for future clinical practices.

The Relevance of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products in the Field of Transplantation and the Need for Academic Research Access: Overcoming Bottlenecks and Claiming a New Time

“…ATMPs are extremely relevant to the field of transplantation as they offer a promising way to address many of the challenges associated with organ and tissue transplantation [ 14 , 15 ]. One of the main challenges of transplantation is rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s immune system recognizes the transplanted organ or tissue as foreign and attacks it.…”