Viruses Found in Pigs Cast Doubt on Usability of Organs for Transplants

Scientists have cast doubt on the feasibility of using pig organs for human transplants after finding two types of viruses that could infect human cells. In a letter in today’s Nature, Jonathan Stoye and colleagues at the National Institute for Medical Research in London said the finding has reinforced fears about the potential risks of viral infections associated with xenotransplantation--using organs from one species in another.

Stoye’s team identified two types of endogenous viruses in pigs. Endogenous viruses are passed on in the germ line as proviruses and are very difficult to remove when producing animals for organ transplants. Doctors do not know if the virus would cause an infection in humans, however, or if it did, what that infection would lead to.