Pig research halt 'a commercial decision'

Monday, 14 August, 2000, 12:30 GMT 13:30 UK - A leading scientific
institute is set to halt its research into pig organ transplantation - but
says the decision is a "purely commercial" one.

Professor Grahame Bulfield, the director of the Roslin Institute in
Edinburgh, UK, which is famous for creating Dolly the Sheep, stressed that
scientists were not abandoning projects because of new health fears.

It's possible there could be viruses we don't know about that could be
released into the human population Professor Ian Wilmut, Roslin Institute

The pioneering team had been using genetically modified pigs to create
organs that might be used to make up the huge shortfall that exists in
suitable human donor tissue.

But discussions between scientists at Geron, the US-based company which is
funding the work, and the Roslin Institute team are thought likely to lead
to the research programme being halted.

Professor Ian Wilmut, the leader of the team which created Dolly, said he
was "disappointed" by the move.

He and other Roslin scientists have been attempting to "switch off"
specific pig genes in order to make human recipients less likely to reject
the animal organs following a transplant.

Professor Wilmut said: "We are in the process of reducing pig work. It has
not quite finished but it will be before long.

"There is a certain reduction in the optimism of how practical it will be
to take animals and use them in this way. The decision is disappointing
because this is something we have been working on for a couple of years and
we are now going to lose support.

"I think the concern is mainly unknown viruses. That's the frightening
thing. If you know what the disease is you know how to look for it. It's
possible there could be viruses we don't know about that could be released
into the human population."

Dr Bulfield said that although the decision had yet to be finalised, the
feeling was that other centres might be better equipped to pursue
xenotransplantation research than Roslin.

He said: "It is an entirely pragmatic decision - we are simply deciding
where our strengths lie."

He denied that the team had uncovered any new evidence of health risks from
xenotransplantation, as some newspapers reported on Monday. These risks
involve the possibility of latent porcine viruses being activated in
transplant patients.

The development follows a breakthrough from another Roslin offshoot, PPL
therapeutics, which has produced the world's first pig clones.

The company has also developed a technique to insert stretches of DNA into
specific sites in an animal's genome. These developments make the genetic
modification of animals for use in xenotransplantation much easier.

Preventing the transmission of new, possibly devastating diseases into
humans is one of the greatest obstacles to xenotransplantation.

Usually, it is very difficult for a virus which affects an animal to cross
the "species barrier" and become a human virus.

But fears were heightened after a case in which an HIV patient given a
baboon liver transplant was found to have a baboon virus.

The body which regulates xenotransplantation research in the UK has given a
cautious go-ahead to pig organ transplantation provided safety concerns
such as this have been fully addressed.

However, this has yet to happen. Fears about virus transmission are such
that future regulation may require potential recipients to sign contracts
undertaking not to have children - or even sex without barrier protection.
Quite how this would be enforced is not entirely clear.

One potential solution put forward to the virus problem is to deliver the
pigs by Caesarean section and then keep them isolated in a completely
sterile environment for their entire lives to keep them free of natural pig
infections.

But pigs are social animals, and ethical concerns have been raised about a
practice that might limit their contact with other creatures.

Related to this story:
Cloning gets specific (29 Jun 00 | Sci/Tech)
Listen to public, says Dolly scientist (30 May 00 | Sci/Tech)
Scientists produce five pig clones (14 Mar 00 | Sci/Tech)
From pig clone to human transplant (14 Mar 00 | Sci/Tech)
Virus warning over animal organ transplants (10 Jun 99 | Health)
Baboon virus passed to transplant patient (30 Sep 99 | Health)


Internet links:
United Kingdom Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority
GeneWatch
Roslin Institute
Royal Society of Medicine
PPL Therapeutics

BBC News Online: Health
"http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/health/newsid_879000/879703.stm"


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