Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Uncertainty in xenotransplantation: Individual benefit versus collective risk

  • Commentary
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Xenotransplantation continues to present daunting scientific hurdles but there is now a genuine prospect for clinical application. There are also significant and unknown risks. We call for a moratorium on all human xenotransplantation and offer a strategy for balancing the ethical, medical, scientific and societal demands of xenotransplantation prior to human clinical trials.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Bach, F.H., Turman, M.A., Vercellotti, G.M., Platt, J.L., & Dalmasso, A.P. Accommodation: a working paradigm for progressing toward clinical discordant xenografting. Transplantation Proceedings 23, 205–207 (1991).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bach, F.H., Winkler, H., Ferran, C., Hancock, W.W., & Robson, S.C. Delayed xenograft rejection. Immunology Today 17, 379–384 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Bach, F.H., et al. Accommodation of vascularized xenografts: expression of “protective genes” by donor endothelial cells in a host Th2 cytokine environment. Nature Medicine 3, 196–204 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cooper, D.K., et al. Specific intravenous carbohydrate therapy. A new concept in inhibiting antibody-mediated rejection—experience with ABO-incompatible cardiac allografting in the baboon. Transplantation 56, 769–777 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Dalmasso, A.P., Vercellotti, G.M., Platt, J.L., & Bach, F.H. Inhibition of complement-mediated endothelial cell cytotoxicity by decay-accelerating factor. Potential for prevention of xenograft hyperacute rejection. Transplantation 52, 530–533 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Dalmasso, A.J., & Bach, F.H. Expression of human regulators of complement activation on pig endothelial cells. Xeno 4, 55–57 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sachs, D.H., Sykes, M., Greenstein, J.L., & Cosimi, A.B. Tolerance and Xenograft Survival. Nature Medicine 1, 969 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Platt, J.L. . Xenotransplantation: recent progress and current perspectives. Current Opinion in Immunology 8, 721–728 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Deacon, T. . et al. Histological evidence of fetal pig neural cell survival after transplantation into a patient with Parkinson's disease. Nature Med. 3, 350–353 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Animal Tissue to Humans: A Report of the Advisory Group on the Ethics of Xenotransplantation, London (1996).

  11. Animal-to-Human Transplants: The Ethics of Xenotransplantation., London, (1996).

  12. Draft Public Health Service Guideline in Infectious Disease Issues in Xenotransplantation, (1996).

  13. Xenotransplantation: Science, Ethics and Public Policy. Institute of Medicine, Washington, D.C. (1996).

  14. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society (eds. Stern, P.C., and Fineberg, H.V.) Washington, D.C. (1996).

  15. Berg, P., Baltimore, D., Brenner, S., Roblin, R.O., & Singer, M.F. Summary statement of the Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA molecules. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 72, 1981–1984 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Berg, P., Baltimore, D., Brenner, S., Roblin, R.O.r., and Singer, M.F. Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA molecules. Science 188, 991–994 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Fishman, J.A. . Miniature swine as organ donors for man: Strategies for prevention of xenotransplant-associated infections. Xenotransplantation 1, 47–57 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Fishman, J.A. . Xenosis and xenotransplantation: addressing the infectious risks posed by an emerging technology. Kidney International - Supplement 58, S41–S45 (1997).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Chapman, L.E. . et al. Xenotransplantation and xenogeneic infections. N.E.M. 333, 1498–1501 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Patience, C., Takeuchi, Y., & Weiss, R.A. Infection of human cells by an endogenous retrovirus of pigs [see comments]. Nature Med. 3, 282–286 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Daar, A.S. Ethic of Xenotransplantation - Animal Issues, Consent, and Likely Transformation of Transplant Ethics. World J. Surgery 21 (9), 975–982 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bach, F., Fishman, J., Daniels, N. et al. Uncertainty in xenotransplantation: Individual benefit versus collective risk. Nat Med 4, 141–144 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0298-141

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0298-141

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Navigation