Pig heart for humans to be a reality

Pig heart for humans to be a reality
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, FEB 11: Pig heart for humans could become a reality with some scientists claiming that a colony of transgenic pigs in Scotland was ready to serve as heart donors for humans, Executive Director of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Naresh Trehan has said.

Trehan, however, said that when a foreign protein enters the human body it elicits an immune response from the body, in the form of production of antibodies, to counter it.

The donor pigs were therefore made immune neutral by taking out their "genetic imprint" so that the human body does not reject the transplant, he told newsmen.

Trehan said besides the question of ethics, the most important issue at hand was the danger of transmission of unknown diseases through transplantation.

He said the scenario emerging at present was that people willing to accept this experiment would not reproduce (abstain from sex) and not have any physical contact with others for a period of time so that even if there is transmission of disease, it remains limited to a single person.

Trehan lamented that because of the expensive infrastructure, such studies cannot be carried out in our country.

He said a new route, other than transplantation, was taking its course with the rapid development of "mechanical hearts," which could soon do away with the necessity of transplants.