title: Absence of transmission of potentially xenotic viruses in a prospective pig to primate islet xenotransplantation study.
abstract: Shortage of human donor organs for transplantation has prompted usage of animals as an alternative donor source. Pigs are the most acceptable candidate animals but issues of xenozoonoses remain. Despite careful monitoring of designated pathogen free pigs there is still a risk that their tissues may carry infectious agents. Thus xenotransplantation requires extensive pre-clinical study on safety of the graft especially for those viruses that are either potentially oncogenic and/or immunosuppressive, or can establish persistent infection. A prospective pig-to-primate islet xenotransplantation study was performed which includes monitoring for potentially xenotic viruses namely porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus (PLHV), and porcine circovirus (PCV) using both molecular diagnostic-PCR and RT-PCR and serology methods. There was no evidence of pig virus transmission into primate recipients. This preclinical study underlines the information concerning viral safety of islet cell xenograft in pig-to-primate xenotransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Living Cell Technologies NZ Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand. ogarkavenko@lctglobal.com
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Garkavenko
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dieckhoff
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wynyard
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Denner
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Margaret C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Croxson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017925:Circovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012698:Serologic Tests; D013552:Swine; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*