It’s no secret that France faces an organ shortage that gets worse every year. Thus, in 2008, 222 people died in France for lack of being able to receive a transplant in time: 1,563 donors had been identified against 13,687 applicants. In the United States, the situation is even more worrying: every day, 22 people die there from lack of transplants.
Two genetics experts at Harvard University (in the United States) may have found a solution to the shortage: George Lurch and Luhan Yang have succeeded in genetically modifying pigs so that their organs can be transplanted to humans. A major scientific breakthrough.
Until now, organ transplantation from pigs to humans was impossible, except for certain very specific organs such as the pancreas or heart valves: the risk of viral transmission was too high. However, the two scientists (accompanied by a team of international researchers) managed, through cloning techniques, to remove the genes responsible for certain viruses in the DNA of pigs before developing embryos.
A first xenotransplantation within 2 to 3 years
Result: George Lurch and Luhan Yang (who founded the company eGenesis) succeeded in obtaining the birth of 37 piglets whose organs are potentially compatible for xenotransplantation (i.e. a transplant into a human from an animal donor ) without side effects or danger to the health of the transplant recipient.
Now 4 months old, the piglets are in perfect health. A first attempt at xenotransplantation should be carried out within 2 to 3 years according to American geneticists.
This work was published this Thursday, August 10, 2017 in the scientific journal Science.
To read :
Organ donation: you are a donor unless you do not want to
Explosion of fentanyl overdoses: no more organs to transplant
In Japan, stuffed animals patched up to talk about organ donation to children
