AROUND one in six lung transplants fail because of tissue damage. But a new drug that would be injected into donors kept alive on support machines could preserve the organs.
Vladimir Muzykantov’s team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that the enzyme catalase stops harmful oxygen free radicals from accumulating in rats’ lung cells. Free radicals damage organs during harvesting and storage (Nature Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1038/nbt806). By attaching the drug to antibodies that target vulnerable cells, the team trebled the storage time of the rat lungs to 18 hours.
