Bacon, Porkchop, and Porchetta (if you're feeling a little bougie) are some things we can relate to pigs. For non-pork lovers, we can think of Pumbaa, Wilbur or even Piglet, but we would never think of kidney transplant when we hear oink, oink.
Xenotransplant is the transplantation of living cells, organs or tissues from another species' (Dooldeniya & Warrens, 2003). Although xenografts have been on the medical scene for a while, breeding animals specifically for human life-or-death organs is a whole new field. Driven by the fact that the rise for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the supply. Also, recent evidence has suggested that xenotransplantation may be therapeutic for neurodegenerative diseases (Weintraub, 2019). The ideology of it all seems very promising, but we all know that action speaks louder than words.
Bavaria, Germany where german researchers are creating gene-editing pigs that could provide organs to demanding U.N.O.S organ transplant list, is hoping to save thousands of lives (Weintraub, 2019). These nameless pigs are breed in a sterilized farm laboratory. They remain nameless to eliminate a personal connection from the breeder to the animal. Though they may look like regular pigs to the public, these pigs have had four genetic modifications to make their organs more acceptable in humans (Weintraub, 2019).
These genetic modifications are due to trials and errors ran on other animals closely related to humans. As a result of these trials, genes that affect the immune response, blood clotting and growth factors have been down-regulated. The German scientists in Munich are trying to keep the genetic modification on the low end to easily control and measure their effects, while another country believes more is better to overcome the species barrier and pathological factors associated with the species (Weintraub, 2019).
The German scientists are very close to breaking the species barrier to start clinical trials in humans, while right here in the US. a southern university is hoping to start its first human trial by 2021. They are hoping that it can be done on babies born with congenital heart malformations; to avoid another Baby Fae incident (Weintraub, 2019).
While this is all amazing progress, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome scientifically, ethically and religiously. How will the human body overcome hyperacute rejection, is it ethically okay to "humanize" pigs just to harvest their organs to meet transplant demands, and let's not neglect the population that does not believe in consuming pork; let only having porcine parts introduced in their bodies (Hanson,2018).
Citation
Weintraub, K. (2019, November 1). Meet the pigs that could solve the human organ transplant crisis. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614653/meet-the-pigs-that-could-solve-the-human-organ-transplant-crises/.
Dooldeniya, M. D., & Warrens, A. N. (2003). Xenotransplantation: where are we today?. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96(3), 111–117. doi:10.1258/jrsm.96.3.111
Hanson, J. (2018, August 29). Clearing a xenotransplantation hurdle: detecting infectious agents in pigs - News. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9718-clearing-a-xenotransplantation-hurdle-detecting-infectious-agents-in-pigs.
The realm of xenotransplantation is very cool and exciting considering the need for organs and other biologic parts in humans. One specific note of interest to me is the genetic modifications being performed with the pigs raised specifically to donate organs. In an older article, it is noted that several organs including hearts, kidneys, and lungs of pigs are capable of meeting the physiological demands of humans (Vanderpool, 1999). However, due to differences in the hepatic protein structure in pigs, sufficient liver functionality in humans may not be viable (Vanderpool, 1999). As noted above, certain traits in pigs are being modified with the hope that better transplant results will ensue. Therefore, if some genetic modifications may already be required for pig livers to fully function in humans, there may be many other possible genetic modifications that can be performed simultaneously that allow for humans to control other diseases in transplant recipients. While this is highly speculative, I find the science of transplantation fascinating. If gene editing can make pig livers and other organs viable in humans, editing genes in pigs may one day help solve some other disease issues in humans.
ReplyDeleteVanderpool, H. (1999). Xenotransplantation: progress and promise. 319. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.319.7220.1311