Immunosuppressants enable organ transplants, but come with severe side effects

A clinical trial is underway in 2026 to help kidney transplant recipients avoid a lifetime of immunosuppressing drugs

This later-stage clinical trial, in Chicago and Taiwan, evaluates the efficacy and safety of a new cellular therapy that may be swapped in for immunosuppressing drugs among kidney transplant recipients. The study randomizes people to either receive standard immunosuppressants or this cellular therapy and fewer immunosuppressants. It only includes kidney transplant recipients receiving organs from live donors so transplant surgery timing won't hinge on the unpredictable schedule of performing surgery and follow-up care when a donor dies.

Transplanted organs can be rejected by the body immediately, months after transplant, or slowly over years

Organ rejection remains a huge challenge for organ transplant recipients. Rejection occurs when a recipient's immune system identifies a transplanted organ as foreign and attacks it. Recipient-donor screening processes try to match antigens to help reduce this risk.

Organ transplants can come with a price tag of more than $2M without insurance

According to 2025 report data that was graphically represented by Statista, average costs for organ transplants can be as steep as $2.3M for a double lung transplant and $1.9M for a heart. These figures are based on what was actually charged to insurance companies—not what individual patients paid. Following the actual transplant there are also additional costs associated with the procedure, including lifelong immunosuppressant drugs.

Artificial intelligence may improve organ donation systems—and even organ health

Mayo Clinic transplant experts suggest that artificial intelligence could potentially improve organ donation systems in several ways, including better identifying patients most at risk for organ rejection, enhancing donor-recipient matching, and helping to avoid organ transplant needs by identifying health issues earlier.

Xenotransplants are an experimental last resort for the terminally ill

David Bennett Sr., the world’s first genetically modified pig heart transplant recipient, explained his reasoning to his University of Maryland Medical Center care team in 2022 regarding why he accepted a pig organ: He was dying and ineligible for a human heart transplant so this was a last-ditch effort, he said. He died two months after receiving the heart.

Theoretically, you could lose a bunch of your organs and still survive

If surgeons removed organs including one of your lungs, a kidney, your spleen, appendix, tonsils, part of your liver, and even some of your reproductive organs you could still survive. Watch this animated video which dives into the organs you could conceivably live without.

Immunotherapy focuses on boosting the immune system to fight cancer

The immune system detects and destroys abnormal cells, curbing the growth of many cancers. Immunotherapy works to boost the body’s immune system to target and kill cancer cells. There are many ways to accomplish this, including adaptive cell therapy, checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies.

The immune system fights tattoos

Our skin is a fascinating organ that wants nothing more than to protect our bodies from the outside world. Tattoos penetrate that protective wall to inject ink directly into the sensitive, immunologically rich layer of skin known as the dermis.

Combining two cancer drugs increased the life space of mice by 30%

A study shows trametinib and rapamycin, two drugs used for cancer treatment in humans, increased mouse lifespan when used together. The medications delayed the onset of cancer and reduced chronic inflammation, results that will be explored in future research.

UNOS oversees the entire US organ donation system

The United Network for Organ Sharing is a private, nonprofit organization that manages much of the US organ donation and transplantation system under a federal contract. Medical urgency, blood type, organ size, and geography of the donor and recipient are all factors determining how someone who needs an organ is matched with someone who donated an organ.

Organoids: 3D organs grown from stem cells in the lab

An organoid is a three-dimensional construct composed of multiple cell types that originate from stem cells that can simulate the architecture and functionality of native organs. One big benefit of these lab-grown organs is that drug candidates can be tested in model systems without needing live patients.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

See this searchable resource about herbal therapies, including evidence and drug interactions

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has created this searchable resource of herbal supplements to inform the public about the purported uses of herbal therapies, the existing evidence about them, their mechanism of action, and any concerns about potential herbal supplement and drug interactions.

Short-term cortisol spikes can boost the immune system

Elevated acute levels can enhance the immune system's ability to fight off infection or respond to injury. Chronic heightened cortisol levels, however, can lead to inflammation that harms cells and tissues over time.

Genetic drug matching, called pharmacogenomics, can help avoid dangerous drug reactions

Certain gene variants can affect how quickly or slowly medications are broken down in the body, affecting drug effectiveness and the risk of drugs failing. Such testing is often not covered by insurance companies though research indicates if these tests were performed for more than six drugs across the US population, avoided ailments would likely climb into the hundreds of thousands. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain health conditions

Early clinical trial research suggests that the parasites trigger the production of specific proteins that quiet our immune systems. This keeps the parasites from being killed, but it also quiets the inflammatory response that underpins allergies, type 2 diabetes, celiac disease, and other autoimmune conditions. Researchers still caution that infection with too many hookworms can cause serious medical complications and that this is not a standardized or approved medical treatment.

How semaglutides are both better and worse than we know

The drugs were developed for use treating diabetes and, later, weight loss, but they have proven helpful with the heart, kidneys, and colon. On the flipside, it may slow digestion and lead to gastroparesis, or stomach blockages, and unexpected babies resulting from the slow effect of birth control pills.

Symptoms of DNA loss may mimic those seen in mushroom poisoning or chemotherapy

Although no organism has ever lost all its DNA, the destroying angel mushroom contains amatoxin, which disrupts DNA transcription and is known to cause death via liver and kidney failure in three days. Doxorubicin, which tangles DNA to disrupt cellular replication, compromises a person's immune system.

Certain medications that affect blood flow or mood boost the risk of heatstroke

Drugs that narrow blood vessels, beta blockers that regulate blood pressure, diuretics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics can all affect the body's ability to regulate its internal body temperature, and so individuals taking these medications need to take special care in extreme heat and when exercising in hot conditions.

Drugs in space: the pharmacy orbiting the Earth

Researchers are developing pharmaceutical solutions for astronauts, whose bodies may not respond the same way in space as they would on Earth. Similar to how microgravity causes changes to astronaut physiology, the environmental shift enables new...

Scleroderma, which causes skin to harden and scar, has no FDA-approved treatment

It's an autoimmune disease that disproportionately causes worse complications in African American people for unknown reasons. It causes the body to overproduce collagen after the immune system attacks the body's own connective tissue, leading to excess collagen deposits and restricted blood circulation as small blood vessels are damaged. It can damage various organs, including the lungs.

Testosterone therapy can cause infertility, and has been explored as a contraceptive

Augmenting testosterone with testosterone hormone therapy suppresses sperm production, and the resulting infertility is permanent in some men. Though a high level of testosterone inside the testicles is essential for fertility, testosterone supplements suppress the production of the pituitary hormones that leads to that natural testosterone production in the testicles—causing infertility.

Understanding vaccine side effects

A vaccine is a medical intervention, and as with any medical intervention, may have side effects. This article discusses side effects and adverse events related to vaccination.

Neural interfaces offer major medical potential but raise serious ethical concerns

Although brain-computer interfaces can help people recover lost functions and allow direct brain-to-computer communication in the future, surveys have shown little public support for using them to boost abilities like memory or focus in healthy people.

Type 1 diabetes is an inherent autoimmune disorder inhibiting insulin production

Diabetes causes the body to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, causing a shortage or lack of insulin. This prevents the body from accessing and storing blood sugar—the brain and muscles' primary energy source. It's unclear what causes Type 1 diabetes, an incurable yet manageable chronic condition as of 2024.

Why taking potassium iodide to protect against radioactivity is unlikely to be effective

Since the thyroid gland cannot distinguish between radioactive and non-radioactive iodine, taking potassium iodide pills causes the thyroid to absorb the medication, leaving it unable to take up radioactive iodine from the environment. However, while this protects the sensitive gland against the most prominent radioisotope produced in nuclear accidents, it does not protect other body parts or shield against other radioactive substances.

Ebola infects and disables immune cells, triggering a cascade of events that leads to small blood clots throughout the body, weakening blood vessels and interrupting blood flow to key organs.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Poison ivy's rash-causing compound is found in the plant's roots, stem, and leaves—so coming into contact with any part of the plant can lead to rashes for the 85% of people who are allergic to it.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology