Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://theconversation.com/organ-t...ical-miracle-or-pandemic-in-the-making-175290
Organ transplants from pigs: Medical miracle or pandemic in the making?
Published: February 27, 2022 8.08am EST
Three out of four new diseases are zoonotic, meaning they have evolved to infect new host species. For example, a mutated bird-flu virus may jump from wild birds to free-range domestic poultry and then to humans who are in contact with poultry. Similar pathways have led to infection by the pathogens that cause Ebola, Zika, HIV, Lyme disease and likely COVID-19.
If a new medical technology increased the risk of a new zoonotic pandemic — however marginally — how would society decide the balance of risk and benefit? If you needed new lungs that were only available in another country, would a health prohibition on the transplant in your own country stop you?
New developments in organ transplant technology may have streamlined a pathway for new zoonotic diseases, but the biotechnology innovators and medical research institutes have not engaged the public on the risks. Failing to do so may jeopardize the potential of a promising therapy.
Xenotransplantation
Over 4,400 Canadians are waitlisted for the lifesaving transplant of a new kidney, liver or lung. In 2019, 250 died waiting. In the United States and elsewhere, the supply gap is more extreme and high hopes ride on xenotransplantation: the transplanting of cells, tissues or organs from animals.
Pre-clinical trials of organ transplants from pigs have addressed the technical barriers to xenotransplantation, reducing the likelihood of rejection. Last summer, Maryland School of Medicine surgeons reported the 31-day survival of a baboon after receiving a lung from a genetically modified pig.
Weeks later, a team at New York University transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead person. In December 2021, surgeons at Maryland School of Medicine transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a living 57-year-old man.
All projects were approved under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, and corporate funding was supplemented by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The next step with the FDA is to approve clinical trials. Normalization of xenotransplantation could happen before there is informed public acceptance of the benefits and risks...
Organ transplants from pigs: Medical miracle or pandemic in the making?
Published: February 27, 2022 8.08am EST
Three out of four new diseases are zoonotic, meaning they have evolved to infect new host species. For example, a mutated bird-flu virus may jump from wild birds to free-range domestic poultry and then to humans who are in contact with poultry. Similar pathways have led to infection by the pathogens that cause Ebola, Zika, HIV, Lyme disease and likely COVID-19.
If a new medical technology increased the risk of a new zoonotic pandemic — however marginally — how would society decide the balance of risk and benefit? If you needed new lungs that were only available in another country, would a health prohibition on the transplant in your own country stop you?
New developments in organ transplant technology may have streamlined a pathway for new zoonotic diseases, but the biotechnology innovators and medical research institutes have not engaged the public on the risks. Failing to do so may jeopardize the potential of a promising therapy.
Xenotransplantation
Over 4,400 Canadians are waitlisted for the lifesaving transplant of a new kidney, liver or lung. In 2019, 250 died waiting. In the United States and elsewhere, the supply gap is more extreme and high hopes ride on xenotransplantation: the transplanting of cells, tissues or organs from animals.
Pre-clinical trials of organ transplants from pigs have addressed the technical barriers to xenotransplantation, reducing the likelihood of rejection. Last summer, Maryland School of Medicine surgeons reported the 31-day survival of a baboon after receiving a lung from a genetically modified pig.
Weeks later, a team at New York University transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead person. In December 2021, surgeons at Maryland School of Medicine transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a living 57-year-old man.
All projects were approved under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, and corporate funding was supplemented by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The next step with the FDA is to approve clinical trials. Normalization of xenotransplantation could happen before there is informed public acceptance of the benefits and risks...
