Donated lungs that have to be discarded because they are not good enough for transplant can be repaired and made suitable for patients, scientists have shown.

The technique, which involves gene therapy, has been successfully tested on pig and human lungs in the laboratory.

Clinical trials are now planned, offering the prospect of dramatically increasing the number of donor lungs available for use.

Scientists from Canada working on the study, published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said that it may also be possible to repair other transplant organs, such as kidneys and hearts, in the same way.

A shortage of donor organs remains a serious problem in Britain. Nearly 10,000 people are waiting for life-saving transplants, a figure that is rising by about 8 per cent each year. Of those, about 1,000 will either die while waiting or become too ill to undergo the operation.

Around 80 per cent of donor lungs are found to be unsatisfactory for transplant because of inflammation and damage to the organ following brain death and intensive-care complications.

The new technique combats the damaging inflammation. The organs are preserved at normal body temperature and a solution of oxygen, proteins and nutrients is pumped over the damaged tissues, allowing cells to begin repairing themselves.

Next, a common cold virus is used to carry a gene called IL-10 into the lungs, significantly improving blood flow and the lungs’ vital ability to take in oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide.

Shaf Keshavjee, from the University of Toronto, who led the research, said: “It’s as if gene therapy turbocharges each individual cell to manufacture many more proteins in its own IL-10 factory.

“This protein down-regulates or decreases the inflammatory potential of cells injured before and during the transplant. It also has the capacity to turn down the recipient’s immune system which rejects the transplanted organ.”

The “IL-10 effect” was found to last 30 days in human lungs. Helping the organ to function better at the time of transplant should lead to more predictable, safer outcomes, researchers said.

Dr Keshavjee said that clinical trials involving human patients would be the next step. The “refurbished” lungs would be offered to consenting, critically ill patients if no other organs were available.

“This work opens the door to a variety of therapies that could be applied to repair injuries in other donor organs to improve the outcome of transplants,” he said.

There were 143 lung transplants in the UK in 2008-09. During the same period there were 216 registered patients waiting for a lung.

James Neuberger, associate medical director of NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “This is very exciting research. However, there is still much work to be done to show whether it will translate into real benefits for [patients.”

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