title: Characterization of PERV in a new conserved pig herd as potential donor animals for xenotransplantation in China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Xenotransplantation has drawn increased attention in recent years as a potential solution to the scarcity of human source donor organs. Researchers have highlighted the need to characterize the influence of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) in xenotransplantation. Screening and analyzing the presence and subtype of PERV in donor source animal breeds could provide basic parameters to evaluate the biological safety of xenotransplantation from pigs to humans. We bred a new miniature porcine herd (XENO-1) after decades of investigation, the herd was purpose bred to produce a potential donor animal source for xenotransplantation. To this end we studied the animals' PERV expression characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  We randomly selected 37 animals of the herd, PCR and RT-PCR based on specific primers were utilized to determine their PERV viral subtype. High fidelity PCR and restriction enzyme digestion were employed for variants detection. To thoroughly understand the PERV expression pattern, quantitative PCR was applied to measure mRNA expression levels in different tissues, At last, transfection capacity was assessed using a in vitro co-culture system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results revealed that the XENO-1 herd was free of PERV-C and exhibited low levels of PERVs in different tissues compared to commercial pig (landrace). The XENO-1 herd showed unique variants of A/B recombination. In addition, even though there were A/B variants in the XENO-1 herd, co-culturing revealed no evidence of PERV transmission from XENO-1 tissue to human cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, Our results displayed an unique PERV expression pattern in a new pig herd and demonstrated its non-transfection capacity in vitro. Data in the research indicate that XENO-1 animals can serve as a better potential donor source for xenotransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. gflq621@126.com.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Experiments, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. davy2222@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The University of Sydney at Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia. wayneh@med.usyd.edu.au.
authors.forename: Wayne J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Hawthorne
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. dongqiong57@126.com.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. yebin9992003@163.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. 530193902@qq.com.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. 598222014@qq.com.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. nieweidaisyn@sina.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Cell Transplantation and Gene Therapy Institute of Central South University, Third Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. cjr.wangwei@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D013552:Swine; D014162:Transfection; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012367:RNA, Viral