A great deal of time and effort was required to achieve the first pig to human heart transplant, including the production of genetically engineered pigs that lack the cell features that provoke rejection, and which minimize the presence of porcine viruses. Nonetheless, the first transplanted heart failed after some weeks for reasons that are yet to be determined, undergoing widespread cell death. This suggests that the remainder of the path towards viable xenotransplantation will be longer than hoped. As a strategy, xenotransplantation competes with work on the production of organs built from patient cells, an approach that will likely take at least as long to b…
A Longer Road for Xenotransplantation of Pig Hearts into Humans
A great deal of time and effort was required to achieve the first pig to human heart transplant, including the production of genetically engineered pigs that lack the cell features that provoke rejection, and which minimize the presence of porcine viruses. Nonetheless, the first transplanted heart failed after some weeks for reasons that are yet to be determined, undergoing widespread cell death. This suggests that the remainder of the path towards viable xenotransplantation will be longer than hoped. As a strategy, xenotransplantation competes with work on the production of organs built from patient cells, an approach that will likely take at least as long to b…