Trials of Xenotransplantation of Pig Organs into Humans Continue

Researchers have genetically engineered pigs to overcome the known barriers to transplantation of pig organs into humans, and have reached the stage of conducting transplants into terminally ill volunteers and brain dead individuals who donated their bodies to science. To learn by doing is really the only practical way by which the presently unknown problems are discovered. This trial of kidney transplantation ran for longer than prior efforts, and is a step on the path to producing a ready supply of non-human organs for transplantation, a technology that will compete with efforts to grow new organs on demands. Surgeons have transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney that continues to function well after 32 days in a man declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating heart on ventilator support. This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human. The first hurdle to overcome in xenotransplants is preventing so-called hyperacute rejection, which typically occurs just minutes after an animal organ is connected to the human circulatory system. By "knocking out" the gene that encodes the biomolecule known as alpha-gal - which has been identified as responsible for a rapid antibody-mediated rejection of pig organs by humans - immediate rejection has been avoided. Additionally, the pig's thymus gland, which is responsible for educating the immune system, was embedded underneath the outer layer of the kidney ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs