The Future Of Xenotransplantation Gets Brighter: [Pig-To-Human Transplantation Gets Expanded]

The emergence of advanced technologies have greeted this era. There is no denial to the fact that Science and Tech is evolving rapidly. We're now experiencing weird and bizarre trails being blazed in this field; most of which started as weird imaginations.

Xenotransplantation is among the major contenders in the field of emerging medical science. This started off from xeno-transfusion (transfusion of blood from animal to humans), now it has progressed to organ xenotransplantation (transplantation of organs from animals to humans). This is weirdly amazing. We'll be focussing on Pig-to-human xenotransplantation.

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To say the least; this could be a major breakthrough the world of medical science is waiting for. Believe me; this would change the game in the field of organ transplant, as it will shimmer rays of hope on the path of patients in need of organ transplant.

This will change the game from "transplant as usual" to "transplant unusual"

Preparation for transplant

Prior to the harvesting, the pig will have to undergo some genetic modifications. This is needed to remove or suppress the inherent virus; PERV (Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus) in the organs that could be harmful to humans. And also to reduce the issue of compatible immunology.

Another breakthrough in this field; is the creation of genetically modified pig clones that will be totally free from PERV. The fear of compatible immunology will be totally ruled off.

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Issue of organ rejection by humans

Even in human-to-human organ donation, there are still risks of organ rejection, how much more when the organs are coming from animals. Well, genetic engineering and biotechnology have taken care of this.

Advances have been made with the gene editing tool; CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). With this, the organ will be modified at the gene level to make it compatible to humans. There is another way though; the organ can also be decarbohydrated to reduce the rejection by humans.

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Proposed xenotransferable organs

Though all organs are potentially useful, but the major ones that have caught the attention of researchers include:

• Pig's Skin: for human skin graft
• Pig's Liver
• Pig's kidney
• Pig's Heart Valve. (Others are still looked upon though)

But the question now is:

Will the human community accept an organ donation from pig?

Thanks for reading

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3