• Question: you have to take tablets to stop organ rejection after you have had an organ tyrannsplant, but what would you do if your body rejected the tablets?! :)

    Asked by drstilesjlstermerrygold98 to Damien, Rachael, Suzi, Tim on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi @drstilesjlstermerrygold98

      Great question! I don’t really know much about organ transplants, but here is what I do know. The other scientists may know more.

      Anti-rejection medication normally works by stopping your immune system from attacking the new organs. I don’t think you can really ‘reject’ the drugs because they are acting to reduce your immune system, but they may not work well, you may have horrible side-effects or be allergic to some of the ingredients used to make up the tablets. There are quite a few different types of anti-rejection tablets so I suspect people will be ok with one or other of them. There is a good wiki page on immunosuppressant drugs:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunosuppressive_drug

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      HI @drstiles
      I think Tim’s covered this pretty well.
      Your body tries to reject the organ because it’s a big foreign body that suddenly appears inside you, so as far as your body is concerned, it’s probably something bad.

      As Tim says, the pills you take suppress the immune system, so that stops this response to the new organ.

      Your body doesn’t see pills as foreign invaders, so it doesn’t reject them in the same way.

      Hope this helps!

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