Xenotransplantation using pig cells, tissues or organs is at present thought to be the best approach to alleviate the increasing shortage of human tissues and organs for the treatment of tissue and organ failure. This shortage is the reason that approximately 25% of the patients on a waiting list die before they could be treated with an appropriate donor organ. In the US, 30,974 organ transplan...

OUR two recent atte~pts ~t baboon-to-human xenotransplantatton faJled. I -. However. there were encouraging notations. First. the xenografts had no evidence of B virus infection during their posttransplant survival of 70 and 26 days in B virus carriers. Second. there also was little histopathologic evidence of humoral or cellular rejection of these livers. Yet. their function was suboptimal. If...

Correction Contact me if this article is corrected. Citations Contact me when this article is cited. Topic collections Contact me when new articles are published in these topic areas. Intervention Other; Gastroenterology; Liver/ Biliary Tract/ Pancreatic Diseases; Cardiovascular Transplantation; Kidney Transplantation; Liver Transplantation; Transplantation, Cardiothoracic Surgery; Endocrine Su...

Xenotransplantation has progressed from early heroic experiments on the path to meet the ever increasing demands of tissue and organ transplantation in patients with end-stage organ failure. The pig species is regarded as the most promising donor species. However, due to the evolutionary distance, innovative approaches are to be developed to permit life-supporting function in humans. Transplant...

Discordant cellular and organ transplantation from bench to bedside

Allotransplantation and xenotransplantation may be associated with the transmission of pathogens from the donor to the recipient. Whereas in the case of allotransplantation the transmitted microorganisms and their pathogenic effect are well characterized, the possible influence of porcine microorganisms on humans is mostly unknown. Porcine circoviruses (PCVs) are common in pig breeds and they b...

The success of allotransplantation has led to an increasing shortage of human organs from deceased donors. This crisis could be resolved by the use of organs from an anatomically suitable animal, such as the pig. The pig and human have, however, been evolving differently for approximately 80 million years, and numerous immunological and physiological barriers have developed that need to be over...

An urgent and steadily increasing need exists world-wide for a greater supply of donor thoracic organs. Xenotransplantation offers the possibility of an unlimited supply of hearts and lungs that could be available electively when required. However, anti-body- mediated mechanisms cause the rejection of pig organs transplanted into non-human primates, and these mechanisms provide major immunologi...