Transplant stand-in

SCIENTISTS have recently demonstrated a technique to grow a substitute organ that, if successful, could be a life saver for Americans with liver failure. Pittsburgh-based cell therapy company LyGenesis developed the experimental treatment with the goal of generating a “miniature liver” out of donor liver cells.

In a March 25 procedure, researchers injected donor cells into the lymph node of a liver failure patient. The lymph node serves as a bioreactor for the liver cells, allowing them to multiply over the next several months. Already successfully tested in animals, the procedure is expected to result in a structure outside of the liver that filters blood and performs other key functions of the liver. In the meantime, the patient is recovering well from the injection and is on immunosuppressive drugs to minimize the body’s rejection of the donor cells, according to Nature.

More than 40,000 people die of liver disease each year in the United States, partly because of a shortage of transplant organs. LyGenesis chief executive Michael Hufford explained in a press release that the novel cell therapy could allow for one donated liver to treat dozens of liver failure patients.

Tranq remedy

Scientists at Scripps Research have created the first vaccine for the deadly drug xylazine, a powerful animal tranquilizer linked to fentanyl overdose deaths in the United States. They successfully tested the vaccine in mice, according to a paper published on April 1 in Chemical Communications.

In the study, the researchers gave mice a high dose of xylazine, then treated them with one of three vaccine formulations. The most effective formulation counteracted xylazine’s effects by improving the mice’s movement and breathing, and it also prevented xylazine from crossing the blood-brain barrier.

The researchers plan next to create a treatment that simultaneously reverses the effects of xylazine and fentanyl, something the opioid overdose drug naloxone cannot do. The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy last year declared the xylazine-fentanyl combo an emerging threat to the U.S. —H.F.

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A worrisome hazard for athletes

Suicides among U.S. college athletes skyrocketed between 2002 and 2022, says a study published April 4 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Of 1,102 total NCAA athlete deaths, the share of deaths attributable to suicide doubled from 7.6 percent in the first 10 years to 15.3 percent in the second 10 years. Male cross-country athletes had the highest incidence of suicide, while Divisions I and II athletes were more affected than Division III ones. —H.F.