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Harvard
Medical School, Boston
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Researchers in the US
have modified dozens of pig genes to enable their organs to be transplanted
into humans. The viruses embedded in the pig genome, which have been feared to
cause diseases in human recipients, have now reportedly been disabled.
In
what is believed to be a big step forward in cross-species transplantation, a
common pig virus that could invade human cells and cause disease has been dealt
with. Called porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), the molecules responsible
for the disease were identified in pigs over a decade ago, creating a problem
for using pigs – whose organs including hearts, kidneys and livers are close in
size to human body parts – for transplants.
RT report continues:
Over
60 PERVs, which are part of all pig genomes and cannot be treated, have been
deactivated in pig embryos by a team led by geneticist George Church of Harvard
Medical School in Boston, Nature journal reported this week. Calling such
gene-edition a record – the number of genes edited in pigs is ten times more than
for any other animal – the international weekly journal of science said the
research “may have produced a suitable non-human organ donor.”
Previous
efforts to grow transplantable organs for humans in pigs have been hindered by
the presence of these PERVs. Such pig viruses are feared to be dangerous for
humans and could infect the organs to be transplanted. They have been
deactivated by Church and his colleagues by using so-called CRISPR/Cas9
gene-editing technology. The result was presented this week at a meeting of the
US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington on human gene editing,
Nature reported.
Another
problem for scientists working on making pigs suitable for growing organs for
humans is possible rejection by the human immune system. In an effort to
prevent this, the researchers also modified more than 20 genes in a separate
set of pig embryos. The changed chromosomes include ones that encode proteins
on the surface of pig cells that are known to trigger a human immune response
or cause blood clotting, the report said.
Both sets of edited pig
embryos are almost ready to implant into mother pigs, Nature cited the US
researcher as saying. A company in Boston is now working on making the process
as cheap as possible, he added.
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