 |
 |
Xenotransplantation: Debate Over Cross-Species Transplants Continues 11/25/2003 12:00 PM By: Ivanhoe Broadcast News In the 1960s, surgeons experimented by transplanting chimpanzee organs into humans in need of an organ transplant. Since then, doctors have continued to look to animals as a source for organs, tissues and cells to treat various diseases. But the idea of cross-species transplants is not without controversy. Dick Beyer has Parkinson’s disease. "I move in slow motion,” he said. Betsy Ray has diabetes. "I've got retinopathy in my eyes. I have cataracts,” she said. And George Jones has kidney failure. "I guess if it wasn't for dialysis, I wouldn't be here,” he said So what do these diseases have in common? Some doctors predict pigs will cure them. "The holy grail of all this is a pig whose organs are not recognized as pig organs but rather are seen essentially to have tissues that our immune system thinks is human tissue,” said Dr. Marlon Levy, a transplant surgeon. Five years ago, Levy used pig livers to do the job two patient’s livers could not. "The ending of this story is that both of these patients are doing remarkably well today,” Levy said. That’s not enough to reassure activist Alix Fano. "We know that since the early 1990s about 16 people have died in human xenotransplantation trials. There have been patients in Parkinson's disease trials who have had pig cells injected into their brains who have come down with malignant cancers,” Fano said. But no research has been done to show a link, and scientists are expanding their research. Pig cells are now being studied for strokes, epilepsy and Huntington’s disease. And doctors from Mexico recently transplanted pig islet cells into 12 diabetic children. Doctors say one is off insulin and the others reduced their insulin requirement by more than 60 percent. Lack of funding is the main reason the research is moving so slowly, Levy said. Researchers also say cloned pigs may play an important role in these types of transplants – and that’s even more controversial. But all of the ongoing research gives Fano more reason to worry. "We do know that patients who have been exposed to pig cells and tissues do have pig DNA circulating in their blood, and that means they most certainly have pig viruses in their blood as well,” Fano said. It’s these viruses that concern her most. "We're talking about putting the entire population at risk from a pig virus that could mutate and spread and kill lots of other people,” Fano said. Biotech companies are working to eliminate that. They’re breeding pigs they say do not pass on the PERV virus – the one deemed most dangers to humans. "We know that at the end of the day if we're successful we'll do something really important,” said Elliot Lebowitz of Biotransplant, Inc. Infection control nurse Betsy Todd also worries about the future. "Retroviruses like HIV or like PERV are by their very nature latent viruses. They take many years often before they can cause active infection” she said. While it may be too early for species to share organs, researchers continue their work – hoping to give patients a second chance at life. Reference: WATCH THE VIDEO - Transplanting pig parts Biotech companies are looking at transplanting pig parts to help alleviate certain diseases. Go to URL http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=90559&SecID=2 and scroll down... SOURCE: News 8 Austin, TX http://www.news8austin.com/shared/print/default.asp?ArID=90559 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn