American scientists make pigs organ donors for humans

Фото: Depositphotos

American scientists managed to unprecedentedly modify the animal's genome, bringing it as close as possible to the human one, which in the future may help to cope with the lack of organs for transplantation.

According to Air force, a group of scientists from a biotech company eGenesis was able to successfully remove the specific viruses contained therein from the 37 DNA of the pigs, thus overcoming one of the main barriers in the transplantation of pig organs to humans.

Scientists recognize that the possibility of rejecting pig organs that are foreign to the human body is still one of the main problems, but they call the results obtained to be an important and promising first step.

The results of the experiment, which used cells of pig skin, published in the scientific journal Science.

In the genetic code of the material taken, scientists have identified 25 of various endogenous pig retroviruses (PERV).

In the course of further experiments on the combination of human and porcine cells, these retroviruses showed their ability to infect human cells.

However, scientists using the method of genetic engineering were able to remove these 25 endogenous retroviruses.

Then, using cloning technology—the same one that created Dolly the sheep—they placed the “edited” genetic material from the pig cells into pig eggs and created embryos.

It is a complex and not the most effective process, however it led to the birth of healthy piglets by 37.

“These are the first pigs that do not have porcine endogenous retroviruses,” Luan Yang, part of the research team, told the BBC. eGenesis at Harvard University.

They are also, she says, "the most genetically modified [animals] in terms of the number of changes made."

Specialists eGenesis faced with a number of unforeseen problems due to the fact that they had to undertake so many genetic modifications at once.

The principle of operation of technology Crispr can be compared with a satellite navigation system and a pair of scissors: the navigator finds the correct point in the genetic code, and then the scissors remove the unnecessary.

However, the removal of the 25 components of the porcine genome has led to DNA instability and loss of genetic information.

If xenotransplantation—that is, the transplantation of animal organs into humans—works, it will solve the problem of organ shortages and reduce the long wait for those who need a transplant.

In the US, more than 100 thousands of people need a transplant of an organ. In the United Kingdom, there are about 6,5 thousands of such people.

“We recognize that we are still in the early stages of scientific research and that our vision of a world where there is no shortage of organs for transplantation may be very bold, but it also gives us the incentive to move mountains,” the biogeneticist said.

"A Promising First Step"

Pigs are suitable for xenotransplantation more than many other animals, because their DNA is relatively close to human, the internal organs are similar in size, and in addition, pigs are easy to breed in large quantities.

Yet removing porcine retroviruses is only half the problem, since even organs transplanted from person to person can cause an immune reaction that leads to transplant rejection.

Now scientists are engaged in the fact that they are studying what other genetic modifications it is possible to carry out, so that the human immune system more willingly accepted pig organs.

“This is an important step towards making xenotransplantation a reality,” Darren Griffin, professor of genetics at the University of Kent, commented on the new data. “At the same time, quite a lot of associated issues, including ethical considerations, will have to be addressed before xenotransplantation becomes a reality.”

Professor Ian McConnell, from the University of Cambridge, said: “This work is a promising first step towards developing a genetic strategy to create pig varieties in which the risk of transmission of retroviruses is eliminated. However, it is not yet clear whether these results can translate into a fully-fledged safe organ transplant strategy.”

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