Pitt researcher gets $2.9M for lymph node study
 

Pitt researcher gets $2.9M for lymph node study


The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A University of Pittsburgh researcher is getting $2.9 million from the federal government to study whether lymph nodes can be used to produce liver and pancreas cells in people with those diseased organs.
Dr. Eric Lagasse (lah-GAH'-see) is an expert in liver diseases and directs the Cancer Stem Cell Center, a joint venture of the university's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and its Cancer Institute.
Lymph nodes manufacture white blood cells which help the body fight off diseases. But Lagasse believes lymph nodes in sick people could be used to house liver or pancreatic cells implanted into them from people with healthy organs.
In theory, the implanted cells could perform the organ's function, making an organ transplant unnecessary.