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| Speaking at the BA Festival of Science in Dublin, Dr. Anthony Warrens will
discuss how xenotransplantation, the process of transplanting organs from one
species into another, could soon be a reality, easing the current shortage of
organs for transplantation.
Dr. Warrens, from Imperial college London and Hammersmith Hospital, says:
"Although the idea of xenotransplantation is far from new, it is only in recent
years that many of the potential immunological problems, such as transplant
rejection, have been solved, meaning the process of transplanting organs from
one species into another, could soon be a reality."
"With the increasing shortage of donors for organ transplants, the use of animal
organs may be the only hope for many suffering from problems such as kidney,
heart or lung failure."
Despite the progress made in this field there are still a number of problems
associated with transplanting animal organs into humans. The dangers of animal
viruses crossing over and infecting humans are still a cause for concern, as
researchers have been unable to create an animal model to test the likelihood
and extent of any cross over.
In addition, unknown animal pathogens could prove a potential problem. While
scientists can create treatment and transplant rejection prevention strategies
for known human pathogens, they are unable to do so for animal pathogens, whose
effects on humans may not be fully known.
Dr Warrens adds: "Despite the risks, xenotransplantation may be the best hope we
have for dealing with the current transplant shortage. Currently there are
around 6000 on the kidney transplant waiting list, whose condition will only get
worse without a transplant. Although we cant say there is absolutely no danger
of cross infection, I believe that in the future we will be able to deal with
many of the problems, reducing any potential risk."
The original news release can be found here.
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/P6812.htm
Alan
http://veloceraptor.blogspot.com/
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