Xenotransplantation: how to overcome the complement obstacle?
The xenotransplantation research is driven by the shortage of allografts for transplantation of patients with end-stage organ failure and by lack of success in developing suitable artificial organs. Pigs are now generally accepted to be the donor species of choice, although a possible risk for transmission of xenozoonoses, particularly pig endogenous retroviruses, should be born in mind. A vascular xenograft from pig to human is usually rejected hyperacutely due to naturally occurring antibodies and complement. This hyperacute rejection can be prevented by manipulating with either of these systems. In this review we briefly describe the hyperacute rejection and how it can be prevented by complement modulation. Pigs made transgenic for human complement regulatory proteins seem very promising for future clinical experiments. Control of fluid-phase complement activation should be obtained as well. The latter is discussed based on our own recent studies in this field.
Department of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Nordland Central Hospital, University of Tromsø, Norway. tomeirik@fagmed.uit.no
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D000818:Animals; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*
D003165:Complement System Proteins