An eight-year-old girl has received the first-ever treatment in the UK which will spare her from taking life-long drugs, to stop her body from rejecting her kidney transplant.

Aditi Shankar experienced a remarkable immune system transformation after undergoing a stem cell transplant. This process effectively “reprogrammed” her immune system, allowing her body to accept a donated kidney from her mother without the need for immunosuppressive drugs.

She had an extremely rare inherited condition called Schimke’s immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD), which not only weakened her immune system but also led to kidney failure.

Because both the bone marrow transplant and the kidney transplant originated from the same donor – Aditi’s mother – the new kidney is functioning without requiring medications that typically suppress the immune system.

Although immunosuppressants are crucial for preventing organ rejection in transplant patients, they have the side effect of weakening the body’s immune response, making recipients more susceptible to infections and other complications.

Aditi has made a remarkable recovery since the surgery and is now back in school, with both her immune system and transplanted kidney functioning normally.

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) collaborated with international colleagues to devise a unique transplant approach, which has been employed in other children with SIOD.

Initially, a bone marrow transplant utilising stem cells from her mother, Divya, helped rebuild the young girl’s immune system. Six months later, she received a kidney transplant from her mother, and her immune system accepted the organ, resulting in her remarkable recovery.

Divya expressed her joy at being able to provide her daughter with blood cells and a kidney. “I just feel so proud,” she told PA Media.

Aditi herself shared her experience, mentioning that she had a “special sleep” during the surgery. Now that she has recovered, she is thrilled with the outcome and excitedly shares, “I can go swimming.” Her newfound health and abilities are undoubtedly a cause for celebration and happiness for both her and her family.

Prof Stephen Marks, children’s kidney specialist at GOSH, said: “She is the first patient in the UK who has had a kidney transplant to not require immunosuppressive medication after the surgery,” he says.

“A month after the transplant, we were able to take her off all of her immunosuppression, which means she doesn’t get the side-effects of the drugs.

“It really is great to see that she is an active eight-year-old girl, back to school, able to have an excellent quality of life.”