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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pig viruses raise concerns about transplants ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK (October 15, 1997 2:22 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) -- Scientists say they have found further reason to be concerned about transplanting organs from animals to people: two viruses that appear to be in a wide variety of pigs. Researchers are exploring the idea of transplanting hearts, kidneys and other organs from pigs to people because human organs are in short supply. But some have raised concerns that animal organs could introduce new and possibly dangerous viruses to the human population. Much of the discussion focuses on viruses that pigs inherit, rather than catch. Eons ago, these viruses infected ancestors of modern pigs and planted their genes. In February, British researchers announced that they had discovered an inherited virus in pig cells that could infect human cells in the test-tube. That shows the risk of infection from transplants is "more plausible than a fanciful scare story," they said. In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, they and some colleagues go a step further. They report that two inherited viruses from pig cells can infect human cells in the test tube, and that the genes for both viruses appear in a wide variety of pig breeds. The findings are provided by Jonathan P. Stoye, a virologist at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, with a colleague there and the authors of last February's report. The viruses, PERV-A and PERV-B, don't make pigs sick, Stoye said. Nobody knows whether they would actually infect somebody who got a pig organ, nor whether such an infection would be harmful, he said. The researchers found that pigs have 10 to 23 copies of PERV-A genes and seven to 12 copies of PERV-B genes. All pigs in the study had genes from both viruses. The sheer number of copies suggests it would be hard to eliminate the genes by breeding, the researchers said. They found that the virus genes are active in the heart, spleen and kidney of pigs. So the genes are probably making virus, Stoye said. Other scientists have found that a virus from pig blood cells can infect human cells, Stoye said. By MALCOLM RITTER, Associated Press Science Writer Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 The Associated Press <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/101597/health18_21424_noframes.html> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]