February 15, 1999
Pig-to-human transplant plan
"Transgenic" pigs: Could help Parkinson's sufferers
An American company has applied to inject pig cells into the brains of
human sufferers of Parkinson's disease in the UK.
The treatment is intended to halt or potentially reverse brain damage in
sufferers. It is already undergoing trials in the United States where
some patients have seen benefits.
But scientists, campaigners and organisations - most notably the Council
of Europe - have requested a moratorium on all cross-species transplants
until key questions have been answered over its safety.
There are fears that pig-to-human transplants could introduce new
"silent" viruses, or retroviruses, into the human population. These
reside in the pig's DNA and cannot be screened out using normal methods.
HIV is an example of a retrovirus and was derived from chimpanzees.
There are also significant ethical questions over the transplant
treatment.
A report in Monday's Guardian newspaper identified the company applying
for UK transplant trials as the Genzyme Corporation. Genzyme has not
confirmed the report.
The UK Department of Health have refused to name the firm, despite a
written Commons question from Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker. Many MPs
now want to know why the matter is being treated with such secrecy.
The company that applied for permission is understood to have developed
a procedure in which cells from pigs' foetuses can be transplanted to
produce a vital chemical, dopamine, that Parkinson's sufferers' brains
have stopped making.
The American trials have recorded some early successes and were approved
by the US Food and Drug administration.
The application to replicate the US cell transplant trials in the UK is
also likely to throw the spotlight on other procedures, including
genetically-modifying pigs to give them "humanized" organs that can then
be "harvested" for transplant into human beings.
To date, researchers have not been able to successfully produce
"transgenic" organs, but some scientists see them as an eventual
solution to chronic shortages in transplantable organs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_279000/279668.stm
--
Gail Vass
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