How pigs can help grow human organs and cut transplant waiting list
Controversial technique could save transplant patients' lives
SEVERE diabetic Sophie Washington knew the only chance of long-term survival was to have a pancreas transplant.
She produced antibodies to insulin, meaning her own body attacked the hormone she injected to control her blood sugar levels.
Psychology student Sophie waited two years before a suitable pancreas was found and she underwent her op.
She said: “Had I not received an organ, I would have died.
“But I was also scared of dying before I had a match.
“I just kept going and tried not to think about it.”
Just two years after Sophie, 20, received her life-saving pancreas transplant, scientists have devised a way to grow human pancreases in pigs.
Researchers from the University of California, Davis, have injected human stem cells into pig embryos to produce human-pig embryos known as chimeras.
These embryos grow “human” pancreases made completely from human cells.
Scientists working on the study hope the technique could one day ease the organ donor shortage.
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Lead researcher Pablo Ross said: “Our hope is that this pig embryo will develop normally but the pancreas will be made almost exclusively out of human cells and could be compatible with a patient for transplantation.”
At the moment, the chimeras are allowed to develop in the sows for 28 days before the pregnancies are terminated and the tissue removed for analysis.
Sophie said: “If it was a choice between living and dying, I would take an organ grown inside a pig.
“A lot of people who say it is horrible to grow organs inside pigs and that we shouldn’t do it would think again if they needed an organ.
“Your perspective changes when it is a choice between living and dying.”
There are currently more than 7,000 people in the UK waiting for an organ transplant.
Figures from NHS Blood and Transplant show that 1,300 people died while on the waiting list or became too sick to receive a an organ.
And there are just 200 pancreas transplants carried out in the UK every year.
Sophie said: “I feel very lucky to have had my transplant.
“But thousands of people are on the waiting list and many won’t be given a second chance.
“Anything that helps with research is a good thing.”
But the technique has been met with criticism.
The National Institutes of Health, a US medical research agency, imposed a ban on funding experiments like this last year.
And animal rights organisations oppose these kinds of experiments on the grounds of the suffering caused to the animals and the prospect of organ farms.
Dr Katy Taylor, Director of Science at Cruelty Free International, said: “Instead of experimenting on innocent animals and offering false hope, more should be done to facilitate the use of organs from human donors, including a mandatory ‘opt-out’ system of organ donation.”
Animal rights group PETA are also against the research.
Dr Julia Baines, from there, said: “The animals used in these experiments are treated as nothing more than laboratory tools, yet they have the same capacity to feel pain and suffer we do.”
But if successful, these chimeras could potentially be used to grow not just a pancreas but hearts, livers, kidneys, lungs and corneas.
Professor Sir Robert Lechler, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said: “Research that introduces human tissue or genetic material into animals could advance our knowledge of medical science and change the way we treat disease.”
Sophie continued: “It is an odd concept to think people’s organs could be grown in pigs.
“Then again, it is strange to think I am walking round with someone else’s pancreas.
“I’m just grateful to be alive.”
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