Xénotransplantation

Abstract

The increasing shortage of human organs for purposes of transplantation has become the critical limiting factor in the number of transplants performed each year. Xenotransplantation -the transplantation of organs between species, namely the pig to human- could provide a solution if immunologic and other physiological, infectious or ethical problems could be solved. When a pig organ is transplanted into a primate, hyperacute rejection, induced by natural anti-pig antibody and mediated by complement develops rapidly. This immediate problem can now be overcome, but the return or the persistence of anti-pig antibody leads to acute vascular xenograft rejection, which leads to destruction of the organ within days or weeks. The preliminary results from transgenic galactosyltransferase knock out gene are awaited and whether it will be possible to prevent this rejection process remains unknown.