Artificial lymph nodes successfully implanted into mice.

A team from the RIKEN institute in Japan has successfully transplated artifical lymph nodes using a collagen created bioscaffold into mice, where the lymph nodes successfully attracted lymphocytes already circulating in the mouse, and organized them just as they are in normal lymph nodes.  After the node was filled with antigen specific lymphocytes, the team then transplated it to a mouse with no functioning immune system, where the lymphocytes then spread from the artifical node to the mouses own lymph nodes. When injected with the specific antigen, the mouses transplanted immune system responded, producing lymphocytes to neutralize the antigen.

 

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