A Dramatic Advance in Organ Transplantation
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TL;DR
This week’s issue covers a stunning advance in organ transplantation.
Pig-Heart Transplantation Achieves Major Milestone
Pig hearts have traditionally not been used for human organ transplants due to immune rejection issues. One of the major challenges with xenotransplantation from pigs is the risk of transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV). The DNA of PERVs are part of the pig genome and can be passed onto offspring, and lab studies have demonstrated that PERVs can be transmitted from pig to human cells. Transplant recipients have to be placed on immunosuppressive medication to prevent a potentially dangerous immune response, which worsens the risk of PERV infection. Pig cells also display “xenoantigens” on their cell surface that can trigger human immune responses. The diagram below illustrates some of the barriers to xenotransplantation in more detail.
In 2015, George Church’s lab published a study that used CRISPR gene editing to simultaneously modify 62 locations in the pig genome to eliminate PERVs, demonstrating that advances in genome engineering could potentially cross these formidable barriers. In dramatic news this week, doctors at the University of Maryland implanted a pig heart grown by Revivcor into a human patient (source). At time of writing, the patient remains healthy and stable, but many questions remain about safety, since immune rejections can happen weeks or months following a surgery. Revivcor hopes to apply to the FDA for a full clinical trial by late next year. There is a long waiting list for organ transplants, so the advance holds the potential to dramatically impact modern medicine.
Weekly News Roundup
https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-clear-hurdle-in-quest-to-decode-prime-numbers-20220113/: A mathematician has proved the subconvexity problem, a stepping stone on the path to the Riemann hypothesis.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/symmetries-reveal-clues-about-the-holographic-universe-20220112/: Physicists study the “celestial sphere,” a hypothetical mathematical encapsulation for the universe.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-tornadoes-mit: Scientists play with “quantum tornadoes.”
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Credits
Author: Bharath Ramsundar, Ph.D.
Editor: Sandya Subramanian, Ph.D.
Thanks. Does the genetic modification prevent the coding of the xenoantigens and the PERV or just one of the two ?