8 March 2012 Last updated at 04:20 ET
An injection of stem cells given alongside a kidney transplant could remove the need for a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system, say scientists.
Early tests of the technique at US hospitals were successful in a small number of patients.
The journal Science Translational Medicine reports how the majority no longer need anti-rejection medication.
Researchers said it could have a "major impact" on transplant science.
One of the key problems associated with organ transplantation is the risk that the body will "recognise" the new organ as a foreign invader and attack it.
To prevent this, patients take powerful drugs to suppress their immune systems, and will have to do this for life.
The drugs come at a price, preventing organ rejection but increasing the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and serious infection.
The study, carried out at the University of Louisville and the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, involved eight patients.
Their transplant came from a live donor, who also underwent a procedure to draw stem cells, the building blocks of their immune system, from the blood.
Read more from the original source:
Stem cells beat kidney rejection