Although it sounds like a modern idea, xenotransplantation first came about in the early 1900s. During that time, organ donation from one human being to another wasn’t possible as a result of ethical questions concerning transplantation. Therefore, animal transplants were considered.
Earlier in this article, we looked at how organ rejection after xenotransplantation is a big obstacle that surgeons face and this, along with issues such as ethics, are delaying the development of xenotransplantation.
Interestingly, while we might assume that animals such as chimpanzees would be the best fit for xenotransplantation because they are similar to us in so many ways, this actually makes them unsuitable candidates.
How these transgenic pigs are bred is by injecting DNA that mimics a human gene into a fertilized pig egg. That egg is then implanted into a sow. Research has found that this strategy has addressed rejection in non-human primates who received organs from genetically altered pigs, as Bio reports.
Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting or infusing live cells, organs, or tissues from an animal source into a human recipient, as Futurism reports.
There are other reasons why monkeys aren’t suitable for xenotransplantation: their organs are too small and they only give birth to one offspring at a time instead of a litter. Based on the above, pigs are considered to be more effective donors.
Human organ transplants aren’t always possible due to a lack of supply.
There are over 115,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States. Many of these patients will die before an organ becomes available. Efforts to increase organ donation have not resulted in significant changes in transplantable organs.
At that time, organ donation from humans was not possible because there were still many ethical questions surrounding transplantation from brain-dead patients and living donors. However, due to the severe physiologic and immunologic mismatch between animal organs and humans, the attempts were largely unsuccessful.
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.
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.
Xenotransplantation was first tried in humans in the 1980s. American Baby Fae who was born with a congenital heart defect had received a baboon heart in 1984. The surgery was successful, but the baby died within a month of the transplant after it was rejected by her body’s immune system.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 114,000 organ transplants are carried out annually in the world, but they fulfil only less than 10% of global needs. Xenotransplantation, if found compatible in the long run, could help provide an alternative supply of organs to those with life-threatening diseases.
In this section, some of the issues regarding the process of xenotransplantation are discussed.