pig cells released an ancient virus when transplanted into mice lacking an immune system, according to results published in the August 17 issue of Nature . This transmission is a potential concern for xenotransplantation research, but there is still no evidence that the virus overnight guests or it could trigger an outbreak. "This virus is not very scary," says transplant biologist David Solomon of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who led the study.
All pig cells contain the so- called porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), which usually hibernates as a DNA fragment into the genome of the pig But when retroviral genes are activated. - we do not know how it happens - the cell begins churning out viral particles theoretically. these particles could spread to other species. Some scientists fear the virus could sicken transplant patients, or even spread to other people. Solomon and his colleagues decided to study the PERV activity in cells pancreatic islets, which have already been transplanted in pigs in some human diabetics.
the team injected cells of pig islets in mouse kidneys that lack immune system function. These so-called NOD / SCID accept pig tissues as their own (as do the transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs). When the team tested the activity of PERV islands over the next seven weeks, they found signs of an active infection. Because the mouse lived in a sterile environment, the transplant procedure must be "awakened" the pig retroviruses. In addition, they found that the pig cells were scattered throughout the body in 17 of 25 mice, and some of these wandering cells had infected cells near the mouse.
This is not necessarily the cause of the alarm. Nobody has found no evidence that PERV is spreading in people or non-human primates used in research of xenotransplantation notes Khazal Paradis, a doctor of transplantation with Novartis in the UK. "The bottom line," Solomon adds, "is that we do not have sick animals, and we do not have sick patients."
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