[see also:
Xenotransplantation, human risk from porcine organ... 980430230848
Xenotransplantation, human risk from porcine organs 980429210744]
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 11:38:11 +0100
From: Aldert A Bergwerff <Bergwerff@vvdo.vet.uu.nl>
For several years, pigs have attracted much attention of people not for
their amusing features and interesting meat-producing abilities, but for
their organs, which may be suitable for transplantation in humans. This
kind of transplantation between different species is called
xenotransplantation. The animal tissue source is becoming of importance as
the number of human donors is very limited and the need for tissues by
patients is increasing.
Several difficulties for such actions have been described. In particular
rejection of tissue, because of the recognition of foreign markers by the
immune system of the host, is a challenging issue. Furthermore, the
introduction of pathogens inhabiting pig's tissue in humans as a sort of
Trojan horse has been recognized as a serious problem, since retro-viruses
may be present in the pig's genome. The presence of zoonotic
micro-organisms must therefore be addressed before successful
xenotransplantation.
QUESTION/THESIS:
However, and that is where we (with a veterinary science background) come
in, should a recipient, who is 'carrying' a foreign organ be afraid of
microorganisms, which are pathogenic to the donating animal? In other
words, if swine fever is breaking out is that a threatening situation for a
recipient, with a kidney, which was grown and formerly owned by a pig?
We hope that you can philosophise on this subject and we are very
interested in your discussion.
-- Dr. Aldert Bergwerff (Chemist: Chemical Hygiene in the Animal Production) Prof. Dr. Frans van Knapen (DVM, Veterinary Public Health) Department of the Science of Food of Animal Origin Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Utrecht University The Netherlands Tel. (INT)31 / (0)30 - 253 5367 Fax. (INT)31 / (0)30 - 253 2367 e-mail: bergwerff@vvdo.vet.uu.nl[Maybe those who have been doing the necessary basic research in laboratory animal xenotransplant models will have some real experience in this question. The question can also be reversed, "Will human infections become pathogenic for pigs?" - Mod.MHJ] .....................................mhj/es
-- Send all items for posting to: promed@usa.healthnet.org (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org. For assistance from a human being, send mail to: owner-promed@usa.healthnet.org
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".