Animals used to save lives
Genetically altered pigs aids diabetics
Jason Ovalle
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: News
In New Richmond, Wis. a non-profit company is breeding genetically altered pigs to help cure humans living with diabetes. The process of animal-to-human transplantation is called xenotransplantation. The Mayo Clinic will be conducting the research.
In a story recently published by The Minneapolis Star Tribune, consumer health reporter Josephine Marcotty explores the possibility of using genetically altered pigs to cure people with diabetes and possibly replace damaged human organs.
The Mayo Clinic said they will be among the first to propose transplanting living pig tissue into humans. The nonprofit Spring Point Project facility houses pigs bred to generate an unusually large number of insulin-producing "islet" cells that Bernard Hering, a university diabetes researcher, hopes to use to treat diabetes.
The first pig-to-human islet cell transplant could happen within one to three years, Hering said. In December he accepted a $40 million gift from the family of Best Buy founder Richard Schulze that he said will greatly accelerate the diabetes research.
"A lot of factors can influence this," Louise Hayes, biology professor said. "If they have any successful trial results, then the FDA is going to regulate just how quickly this technology can be used by a typical person who has diabetes. If the results are not promising, then it will not be a feasible treatment anytime soon."
There are potential complications including diseases using animal tissue and implanting it into humans. Pigs and humans both share a few infectious pathogens, swine flu and toxoplasmosis are among them.
According to the CDC, "swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs." Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that infects the immune system after coming into contact with animal feces or undercooked meat.
Scientists also fear an epidemic could occur if a virus or bacteria exclusive to pigs jumped to humans and evolved into something new and lethal, for example, avian flu.
In a story recently published by The Minneapolis Star Tribune, consumer health reporter Josephine Marcotty explores the possibility of using genetically altered pigs to cure people with diabetes and possibly replace damaged human organs.
The Mayo Clinic said they will be among the first to propose transplanting living pig tissue into humans. The nonprofit Spring Point Project facility houses pigs bred to generate an unusually large number of insulin-producing "islet" cells that Bernard Hering, a university diabetes researcher, hopes to use to treat diabetes.
The first pig-to-human islet cell transplant could happen within one to three years, Hering said. In December he accepted a $40 million gift from the family of Best Buy founder Richard Schulze that he said will greatly accelerate the diabetes research.
"A lot of factors can influence this," Louise Hayes, biology professor said. "If they have any successful trial results, then the FDA is going to regulate just how quickly this technology can be used by a typical person who has diabetes. If the results are not promising, then it will not be a feasible treatment anytime soon."
There are potential complications including diseases using animal tissue and implanting it into humans. Pigs and humans both share a few infectious pathogens, swine flu and toxoplasmosis are among them.
According to the CDC, "swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs." Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that infects the immune system after coming into contact with animal feces or undercooked meat.
Scientists also fear an epidemic could occur if a virus or bacteria exclusive to pigs jumped to humans and evolved into something new and lethal, for example, avian flu.
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