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REVIEW

Transpl Int
Volume 37 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/ti.2024.13594
This article is part of the Special Issue Europeans and Xenotransplantation View all 11 articles

POTENTIAL INFECTIOUS COMPLICATIONS IN PIG XENOGRAFT DONORS AND RECIPIENTS

Nicolas J Mueller Nicolas J Mueller 1*Linda Scobie Linda Scobie 2
  • 1 University Hospital Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2 Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Preclinical and clinical xenotransplantation trials have shown that successful outcomes depend on a number of factors including the prevention of xenozoonoses. Preclinical trials involving pig kidneys and hearts transplanted into various non-human primates have revealed the potential impact of pig pathogens being present in the transplanted organ/tissue, mainly viruses. The concept of “designated pathogen-free donor animals” was developed to ensure elimination of pathogens during the breeding of donor animals to mitigate this occurrence. This is a challenging process as confirmation of presence and absence of some pathogen, in particular for latent viruses, requires a validated armamentarium of direct and indirect tests. The importance of using the correct diagnostic regimen was highlighted during the first pig-to-man cardiac transplantation with both porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), also known as porcine roseolovirus (PRV), and porcine circovirus (PCV) detected in the transplanted organ and in the patient. To further improve xenotransplantation and to achieve trials in Europe it is important that we use these data to inform process for diagnostics both in donor and recipients before and after xenotransplantation to ensure safety. As part of this sensitive and specific pathogen detection systems should be validated and readily available.

    Keywords: Xenotransplantation, preclinical trials, Clinical trials, porcine viruses, non-human primates

    Received: 30 Jul 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mueller and Scobie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nicolas J Mueller, University Hospital Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.