Monday, January 07, 2008

Mice Re-Grow Lymphatics!

No, I am not making this up.

Check it out here:

The VEGF-C therapy To Restore Lymphatic Vessel And Lymph Node Function

Pretty exciting stuff, huh? My only real questions are about the timetable. If I understood the brief right, they are having to be very super cautious because of the possibility of cancer metastasis.

I would like to know more about potential application of this research with regard to hereditary lymphedema, both in terms of being more aggressive about the research, and potential complications. It's a genetic therapy. It has proven successful in mice who previously had genetically normal lymphatics.

My first question is whether or not it would even work with a patient/animal/subject that was born with abnormal lymphatics. Then I'd love to know about various aspects of that - does it only work in patients who were born without vessels in parts of their body or can it help those whose lymphatics are too big or too small, too?

Like all good research it engenders as many questions as it answers. Thanks and props to Pat at Lymphedema People who posted the original link on the Advocates for Lymphedema Yahoo! Group.

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