Good grief, jmp! What a frabjous day! Pigs AND
clones...cloned pigs...pig clones...and one of the plump
pink porcine pretties is even named after moi (and, I
suppose, Alexis Carrel)...
Carole/Carrel
--- janet paterson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Tuesday, 14 March, 2000, 16:33 GMT
>
> Scientists produce five pig clones
>
> The scientists who created Dolly the sheep have announced
> the birth of five pig clones - the first in the world.
>
> Edinburgh-based company PPL Therapeutics hopes such
> animals will help meet the anticipated demand for pig
> organs if they are approved for use in human transplants.
>
> The five piglets, which were born on 5 March, have been
> named Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel and Dotcom.
>
> "They're wonderful, they're healthy, they're bouncing
> around," said PPL's Dave Ayares, who was present at the
> birth of the animals.
>
> The piglets were created from adult cells using "nuclear
> transfer" technology similar to that which led to the
> birth of Dolly.
>
> A company spokesman said: "This opens the door to making
> modified pigs whose organs and cells can be successfully
> transplanted into humans - the only near-term solution to
> solving the worldwide organ shortage crisis."
>
> Clinical trials into the use of animal organs for human
> transplant could start in about four years, the company
> said.
>
> The development has been welcomed by other scientists
> working the field of xenotransplation - the use animal
> organs for human transplant.
>
> UK-based biotech firm Imutran, which is breeding
> genetically-modified pigs for transplant, said: "This is
> interesting news. It is potentially a useful technology
> to develop new lines of pigs for xenotransplantation.
>
> "However, the next step is to see if the technology can
> be applied to developing genetically-modified animals
> whose organs can be transplanted into humans without
> being rejected."
>
> This is a reasonable aim, according to Erling Refsum, of
> analysts Nomura Securities: "Cloning is the most
> difficult step. The rest of the barriers are more easily
> dealt with.
>
> "Dolly was a scientific breakthrough but this is bigger.
> This puts them clearly up front in doing something that
> no one else can do. These pigs definitely put them in the
> big league," he added.
>
> Some analysts believe the market could be worth $6bn for
> the solid organs alone.
>
> Colin Blakemore, Professor of Physiology at Oxford
> University, looked forward to a time when such animals
> could also be used in novel cell therapies.
>
> "For example, cells from the pig that could be engineered
> to produce human insulin - they might be used to treat
> diabetes, a disease for which organ transplantation is
> not feasible at the moment," he told the BBC.
>
> He warned, however, that scientists could not escape the
> ethical debate that would inevitably follow from such
> research. But Dr Ron James, PPL's managing director, said
> many of the arguments had already had a good airing.
>
> "I don't see that there are any ethical implications
> which are new in this work," he said. "If one is happy to
> eat pork then I can see no real problem in using the same
> animal for life-saving purposes."
>
> PPL said the method used to produce the five female pigs
> involved new procedures developed by its US staff in
> Blacksburg, Virginia.
>
> The piglets' DNA has been confirmed in independent tests
> to be identical to the donor, but different from the
> surrogate mother.
>
> The names for the new clones, which were born in the US,
> were chosen by the scientists in Virginia.
>
> The first, Millie, was named after the millennium;
> Christa, after Christian Barnard, the surgeon who
> performed the first human heart transplant in 1967;
> Alexis and Carrel after transplant pioneer and Nobel
> prizewinner Alexis Carrel; and Dotcom to reflect the
> growing use of the internet.
>
> The work was part-funded by a US Government grant awarded
> to produce a "knock-out" pig - one which has a specific
> gene or genes inactivated to help prevent the human
> immune system rejecting an implanted pig organ.
>
> However, these genes can only be knocked-out in
> individual cells, not in whole animals. To generate
> organs with knocked-out genes, scientists must take the
> altered cells and use them to create clones.
>
> PPL has now proven cloning is possible and says it had
> already achieved the required targeted gene knock-out in
> pig cells, using the same patented technology that led to
> the gene-altered lambs Cupid and Diana.
>
> Pigs have become the central focus of attempts to produce
> organs for xenotransplatation. Primates would be a closer
> match but ethical concerns and the fact that they produce
> only single offspring have meant this approach has not
> been developed.
>
> The large litters of pigs and the similarity in size of
> their organs have led to their being the most likely
> supplier of any future transplant organs.
>
>
> BBC News Online: Sci/Tech
>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_676000/676906.stm
>
> janet paterson
> 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
> a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/
> 613 256 8340 PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario Canada K0A 1A0
>
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