Xenotransplantation

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The genetically modified pig heart took longer to generate a heartbeat than hearts of pigs or humans usually do, researchers have said. The 57-year-old recipient lived for 61 days after the transplant in January.

Xenotransplantation

• Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting organs from one species to another.
• It is a 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.
• In 2021, surgeons at New York University Langone Health transplanted kidneys from the same line of genetically modified pigs into two legally dead people with no discernible brain function.
• The organs were not rejected, and functioned normally while the deceased recipients were sustained on ventilators.

Benefits

• 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.

Issues

• The use of xenotransplantation raises concerns regarding the potential infection of recipients with both recognized and unrecognised infectious agents and the possible subsequent transmission to their close contacts and into the general human population.
• Moreover, new infectious agents may not be readily identifiable with current techniques.