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Published on: May 5, 2014
Prolonged survival of GalT-KO swine skin on baboons
Joshua Weiner1, Kazuhiko Yamada, Yoshinori Ishikawa
1The Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
Allogeneic skin is currently the best alternative to autologous skin as a temporary treatment for severe burns, but it has several drawbacks. As a potential alternative, we have evaluated GalT-KO swine skin, which lacks expression of the Gal epitope, to investigate the effect of eliminating this epitope on survival of pig-to-baboon skin grafts.
Methods:
Two adult baboons that had fully recovered from previous T cell depletion received simultaneous skin grafts from: (i) GalT-KO swine, (ii) Gal-positive swine, (iii) a third-party baboon, and (iv) self (control skin). Recipients were treated with cyclosporin for 12 days and the survival, gross appearance, and histology of the grafts were compared.
Results:
In both baboons, the GalT-KO skin survived longer than either the Gal-positive swine skin or the allogeneic skin. Early rejection of the Gal-positive skin appeared to be mediated by cytotoxic preformed anti-Gal IgM antibodies, while the rejection of GalT-KO skin appeared to result from cellular mechanisms.
Conclusions:
GalT-KO skin may have potential clinical benefits as an alternative to allogeneic skin as a temporary treatment for severe skin injuries.
