title: Microbiological hazards of xenotransplantation. 1. Doubts and convictions relating to the risk of xenozoonosis.
abstract: The use of a xenogenic organ, tissue or cells for transplantation permits in theory the transmission of microbiological agents from one species to another. The risk of transmission of an unknown animal pathogen to man is assumed to be a public health issue. The genotype homology between human beings and non-human primates, theoretically, should increase the probability of transmission of microbiological agents. It is also assumed that pathogenicity is intensified in closely related species. Historically, most zoonoses come from species that are distant from man. Viruses are more often responsible for human disease than other animal microbial agents. Exposure of humans to animal viruses does not predicate infection. The pathogenicity of an animal virus for man may be immediate or delayed by a possible recombination of adaptive processes. The ultimate risk is the inter-human transmission of a highly pathogenic and fatal animal disease. The retrovirus possesses the enzyme which enables it to become inserted into chromosomal DNA. With an endogenous retrovirus, viral genomes are transmitted through heredity. Some of the retrovirally derived sequences in mammals are fossil viruses. It has been argued that the more closely the species are related, the less likely the retrovirus is to be transmitted, because of xenotropism.
authors.affiliation: Etablissement français des greffes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Julvez
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vannier
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wadham
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D011323:Primates; D012307:Risk Factors; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission*