could xenotransplantation be the answer?

what animals used?  what is the rate of success?

probably will focus on pigs because of size and the physiological similarities to humans

(plus most people don’t mind, we already eat pork anyhow!)

what other problems?

transmission of infectious diseases

            expose humans to nonhuman viruses

            ex: primate viruses actively attack human cells and kill them

            HIV, Ebola, hepatitis

            not many researchers want to perform primate-to-human transplants these days

            ex: pig viruses also have been found to infect human cells

            swine flu and other more deadly strains of influenza, other unknown viruses?

immunological problems

the cell surface proteins (part of the HLA system) that act as antigens are very different across species

animal organs have very different surface proteins that will trigger an immediate and massive response from immune system (within hours, destroy the transplanted organ)

how could this be avoided?

isolate and clone human genes that shield or protect organs from attack by the immune system and then inject these back into donor animals

if genes encoding these proteins can be successfully transferred to donor animals (inject transgenes into fertilized eggs), their organs will express human recognition proteins and reduce the chance of rejection

waiting for the first transgenic animal-to-human transplant

does xenotransplantation place public health at risk and is this an unacceptable technology?

should there be an indefinite freeze on all forms of experimentation and clinical application of this technology?  (use of federal dollars)

once again, much of this work has been done in private industry, so what is the role of the biotech industry?

estimates of 100,000 transgenic pigs on an annual basis, which potentially translates into a mutli-billion dollar industry

is big business now the driving force behind xenotransplantation?

do dollar signs outweigh the public good?