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Updated: Mar 7, 2026
Quantification of Circulating Pig-Specific DNA in the Blood of a Xenotransplantation Model
Published on: September 22, 2020
Clinical xenotransplantation, a closer reality: Literature review
Ana María Aristizabal1, Luis Armando Caicedo1, Juan Manuel Martínez1
1Centro de Investigaciones Clínicas, Fundación Valle del Lili, Cali, Colombia; Centro para la Investigación en Cirugía Avanzada y Trasplantes (CICAT), Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia.
Abstract:
Xenotransplantation could provide an unlimited supply of organs and solve the current shortage of organs for transplantation. To become a reality in clinical practice, the immunological and physiological barriers and the risk of xenozoonosis that they possess should be resolved. From the immunological point of view, in the last 30 years a significant progress in the production of transgenic pigs has prevented the hyperacute rejection. About xenozoonosis, attention has been focused on the risk of transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses; however, today, it is considered that the risk is very low and the inevitable transmission should not prevent the clinical xenotransplantation. Regarding the physiological barriers, encouraging results have been obtained and it's expected that the barriers that still need to be corrected can be solved in the future through genetic modifications.
