Organ culture for thymus transplantation.

A method is presented for organ culture of postnatal thymus. Such tissue has been used for transplantation for nearly 20 years, but lasting benefit has been observed only in patients with the DiGeorge anomaly. Transplantation in other diseases has produced little or no results. Recently, improved methods for preparing the tissue as well as modifications of the culture media show marked improvement in quality and quantity of tissue suitable for transplant. In addition, using recently available monoclonal antibodies, preservation of vital stromal components can be monitored. The availability of reasonable amounts of high quality thymus tissue for transplantation may stimulate interest in further clinical trials where thymus transplantation may augment or restore T cell immunity.