Genetically engineered pigs for xenotransplantation: Hopes and challenges

Jiahui Xi; Wei Zheng; Min Chen; Qingjian Zou; Chengcheng Tang; Xiaoqing Zhou

doi:10.3389/fcell.2022.1093534

Genetically engineered pigs for xenotransplantation: Hopes and challenges

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Jan 12:10:1093534. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.1093534. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jiahui Xi¹, Wei Zheng¹, Min Chen¹, Qingjian Zou¹, Chengcheng Tang¹, Xiaoqing Zhou¹

Affiliation

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Large Animal Models for Biomedicine, South China Institute of Large Animal Models for Biomedicine, School of Biotechnology and Health Science, Wuyi University, Jiangmen, China.

Abstract

The shortage of donor resources has greatly limited the application of clinical xenotransplantation. As such, genetically engineered pigs are expected to be an ideal organ source for xenotransplantation. Most current studies mainly focus on genetically modifying organs or tissues from donor pigs to reduce or prevent attack by the human immune system. Another potential organ source is interspecies chimeras. In this paper, we reviewed the progress of the genetically engineered pigs from the view of immunologic barriers and strategies, and discussed the possibility and challenges of the interspecies chimeras.

Keywords: genetically engineered pigs; immunologic barriers; interspecies chimeras; porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV); xenotransplantation.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Youth Innovation Project of Guangdong Province University (2022KQNCX095), the Science and Technology Planing Project of Jiangmen (2021030101220004887, 2021030101230004833), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (2019A1515110283).