Name: Mark Anthony A. Pega
BSE 4B
ASSESSMENT 2
Could animal organs can be used by human patients? Justify your answer.
Transplanting animal organs into humans has been in the works for centuries. The
transplantation of animal organ, tissues or cell across species is called Xenotransplantation. Tissue
xenotransplants have been carried out as early as the 17th to 18th century when blood was transfused
into human patients with mixed results. In 1838, the first corneal xenotransplantation from a pig was
performed in a patient, whereas the first corneal allograft human-to-human operation was not carried
out until more than 65 years later, in 1905. China has reportedly performed more than 400 corneal
xenotransplants since 2015 when it was approved.
Organ xenotransplantation has actually been performed as far back as the early 20th century
when a French surgeon implanted a pig kidney and a goats liver in his human patients, they didn't
survive, It'd have been a miracle if they did. In 1963, chimpanzee kidneys were transplanted into 13
patients. It's reported one of them actually survived for 9 months before dying of what was believed to
be electrolyte disturbance. Probably organ rejection. In 1964, Hardy carried out the first xeno heart
transplant using a chimpanzee heart but the patient died within 2 hours. In 1966, Starlz transplanted the
first chimpanzee liver into a human. By 1992 his patient was able to survive for 70 days following a
baboon liver transplant. Baboons and Chimpanzees are a favoured donor because of the close genetic
relatedness we share. They are hardy virus carriers and there have been ethical concerns regarding their
use.
At present, xenotransplantation in humans is extremely limited in scope. However, given the
acute worldwide shortage in availability of human tissues and organs, it is being actively researched as
an alternative source. Pig has become the de facto donor, not so much for scientific as for economic and
practical reasons. Pigs are already a major human food source plus they are considered physiologically
similar enough. Now it's also become ever easier and cheaper to generate cloned, gene knockout and
transgenic pigs. Pigs are the next favourite, their anatomy is similar to that of humans and are generally
healthier than baboons. Genetically modified pigs offer a hope of limitless supply of blood and organs
for those in need.
Xenotransplant procedures are still experimental presently and the main risk to the
procedure is organ rejection, just as it is for human to human transplants. Of course there are problems
where most commonly rejection by the recipients body of the foreign organ. There's also the problem of
transporting viruses from the host body to the recipient body. An added risk is the probability of a
Zoonotic disease outbreak. Animals carry lots of pathogens, some of which are harmless to them but
very harmful to us. But we need to use animal tissues and organs because the supply of human organs
is so little in contrast to the demand. Xenotransplantation has saved lives.
In the nearest future, as early as 5 years, we might have successful xenotransplants with
better prognosis than human transplants. The advancement of genetics and biotechnology climb up to
the peak where possibilies can be made for human development.