Xenotransplantation is any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation or infusion into a human recipient of either (a) live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source, or (b) human body fluids, cells, tissues or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues or organs. The development of xenotransplantation is, in part, driven by the fact that the demand for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the supply.
Currently ten patients die each day in the United States while on the waiting list to receive lifesaving vital organ transplants. Moreover, recent evidence has suggested that transplantation of cells and tissues may be therapeutic for certain diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders and diabetes, where, again human materials are not usually available.
Although the potential benefits are considerable, the use of xenotransplantation raises concerns regarding the potential infection of recipients with both recognized and unrecognized infectious agents and the possible subsequent transmission to their close contacts and into the general human population. Of public health concern is the potential for cross-species infection by retroviruses, which may be latent and lead to disease years after infection. Moreover, new infectious agents may not be readily identifiable with current techniques.
In a medical milestone, doctors at the University of Maryland announced the successful transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a human. The patient, 57-year-old Dave Bennett, has lived for four days following the surgery and is being weaned off a respiratory machine.
The procedure is the culmination of decades of research and marks a critical advance in lessening the reliance on human organ transplants. The donor heart came from a 1-year-old pig that had been genetically modified to decrease the likelihood Bennett's body would reject it. More than 100,000 Americans are on organ transplant lists, and 6,000 patients die each year while waiting.
The success follows two surgeries in which pig kidneys were successfully transplanted to human hosts—however, the procedures were demonstrations involving clinically brain-dead patients.
What do you think about this new development?