Thread

Celebrating the 100th birthday of the kidney donated to him as a teenager

272 points · 64 comments · gscott

d_silin · 1791063404 · focus · HN ↗
There is an observation that donated organs sync to a biological age of the recipient.
<a href="https://www.inc.com/lucia-auerbach/can-transplanted-heart-become-biologically-younger-harvard-study-suggest-it-can/91411326" rel="nofollow">https://www.inc.com/lucia-auerbach/can-transplanted-heart-be...
1. moffkalast · 1791067029 · focus · HN ↗
  So in theory you could keep an organ alive perpetually if you kept transplanting it every fifty or so years?
  1. ocdtrekkie · 1791068659 · focus · HN ↗
    Well the average kidney transplant works for 15-20 years... so probably not.
    DANmode · 1791072428 · focus · HN ↗
    That’s not how causation works.
    People with infection and or endocrine failure who need an organ are more apt to need another organ (due to age - or endocrine failure again).
  2. f6v · 1791116335 · focus · HN ↗
    Speaking strictly theoretically, I don’t think “young” environment can help with telomere shortening.
  3. tliltocatl · 1791116454 · focus · HN ↗
    The problem is histological compatibility, i. e. not getting it ruined by the recipient's immune system. The TFA was very lucky having apparently 100% compatibility.

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