A Longer Road for Xenotransplantation of Pig Hearts into Humans

A great deal of time and effort was required to achieve the first pig to human heart transplant, including the production of genetically engineered pigs that lack the cell features that provoke rejection, and which minimize the presence of porcine viruses. Nonetheless, the first transplanted heart failed after some weeks for reasons that are yet to be determined, undergoing widespread cell death. This suggests that the remainder of the path towards viable xenotransplantation will be longer than hoped. As a strategy, xenotransplantation competes with work on the production of organs built from patient cells, an approach that will likely take at least as long to be realized. The pig that served as the heart donor came from a population that has been extensively genetically engineered to limit the possibility of rejection by the human immune system. The line was also free of a specific virus that inserts itself into the pig genome (porcine endogenous retrovirus C, or PERV-C) and was raised in conditions that should limit pathogen exposure. The animal was also screened for viruses prior to the transplant, and the patient was screened for pig pathogens afterward. While patient weight loss was a concern, at five weeks after the transplant, there were no indications of rejection, and the heart was still functioning. Things started to go bad about seven weeks post-transplant when the patient's blood pressure began to drop. Fluid started building on his lungs, and he h...
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