Xenotransplantation Legal Definition

(a) Promote education and public debate on xenotransplantation in recognition of the unique risks that these procedures pose to patients and the public. With the 1984 Baby-Fae incident as an impetus, animal rights activists began protesting, attracting media attention and proving that some people considered it unethical and a violation of the animal`s own rights to use its organs to sustain the life of a sick person. [71] Treating animals as mere tools of slaughter at the request of human will would lead to a world they would not prefer. [71] Proponents of transplantation fought back, claiming that saving a human life justified the sacrifice of an animal. [71] Most animal rights activists have found the use of primate organs more objectionable than, say, pigs. [71] As Peter Singer et al. Many primates exhibit superior social structure, communication skills, and affection than mentally handicapped humans and human infants. [72] Nevertheless, animal suffering is highly unlikely to provide regulators with sufficient impetus to prevent xenotransplantation. [40] Persson et al.22 found significant approval rates for cell xenotransplantation in patient and public populations. Clinical approval was correlated with approval to promote xenotransplantation research, particularly in patient populations.

No significance was found in terms of organ waiting time and approval of xenotransplantation research when the patient population was subdivided after a six-month waiting period. However, when both groups, the general public and patients, were asked about the approval of organ or tissue xenotransplantation, support decreased significantly. Disapproval was also noted when groups were informed of the significant risk of xenograft infection compared to allografts. Many sensitive diagnostic tests have been developed to detect most of the potential viruses associated with xenotransplantation of organs in humans. For example, 1 long-term follow-up study in 18 human porcine islet transplant recipients showed no evidence of PLHV, PCMV, PCV or PERV infection in any of the patients 9 years after xenotransplantation. [84] To date, no in vivo infection of human cells with PERV virus has been reported. In contrast, transplantation of baboon livers and chimpanzee kidneys into humans had resulted in deaths from diseases unrelated to organ failure. [85] Moscoso I, Hermida-Prieto M, Maã±ez R, Lopez-Pelaez E, Centeno A, Diaz TM. Absence of interspecific transmission of porcine endogenous retrovirus in pig-baboon xenotransplantation with persistent depletion of anti-alphagal antibodies. Transplantation. 2005 April 15 79(7):777-82. [Qx® MEDLINE Link].

Experimental xenotransplantation from pig organs to non-human primates showed no transmission of PEREV. One study suggested that a reduced risk of endogenous retrovirus transmission from pigs to baboons correlated with decreased levels of circulating anti-alpha-gal antibodies. [82] Others have shown that baboons receiving transgenic livers do not have PERV infection. [83] Scientific interest in xenotransplantation has declined as the immunological basis of the organ rejection process has been described. The next waves of studies on this topic came with the discovery of immunosuppressants. Even more studies followed Joseph Murray`s first successful kidney transplant in 1954, and scientists initially confronted with the ethical questions of organ donation accelerated their efforts to find alternatives to human organs. [9] The immunology of xenotransplantation is a topic of medical interest. The use of transplantation to treat human diseases is severely limited by a shortage of human organs, and overcoming immunological barriers to xenotransplantation would certainly solve this problem. Whether and to what extent xenotransplantation is used also depends on advances in other technologies.3, 19 One could imagine that cloning and new applications of stem cells could eliminate or even eliminate the demand for xenotransplantation. However, interest in xenotransplantation is expected to continue, despite the failure to overcome immunological barriers and advances in alternative technologies.

This interest should stem from xenotransplantation as an experimental model. Today, no better or stricter model can be found than a xenograft to test the effectiveness of therapies for the complement or coagulation system.