Scientists have found a way to turn adult pig cells into any tissue in the body, just like embryonic stem cells:
Dr Xiao’s team reprogrammed cells taken from a pig’s ear and bone marrow, using a cocktail of chemicals introduced into the cells via a virus.
Tests showed that the reprogrammed cells were capable of becoming any of the cell types that make up the three layers in a developing embryo….
Dr Xiao said pigs were a potentially ideal source of organs for transplant, as their organs were similar in function and size to those found in humans.
He said reprogrammed stem cells could potentially be used to make a pig organ compatible to the human immune system, minimising the risk of rejection.
The cells could also be used to mimic human disease in pigs, allowing scientists to test new therapies without requiring human volunteers.
I’d be kinda weird to get a transplant from a pig, but hey, it’s better than the alternative!
I didn’t see enough in the article to be sure it’s relevant, but there’s a bill introduced into congress that could ban something like this depending on what exactly they did to alter the pig cells.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/why_do_they_hate_the_manimal.php
Dr Xiao’s team reprogrammed cells taken from a pig’s ear…
and turned it into a silkworm, thus disproving the old adage…
LMAO!!!!!
I want a pig’s nose, then go find truffles and get filthy rich. muhahaha.
but how could you ever eat bacon again? Soylent Green anyone?
Cannibalism ftw! :D
The immune system of a pig is very similar to a human’s (even more similar than a chimp’s), so these cells offer a real chance to do some healing without getting rejected. Of course, we have to watch out for viruses…
@Joe- I’d like to see congress pass a law against chimera research. Let them just try… they will fail miserably because it is such an established field. Also, since when do non-scientists get to meddle in things they don’t understand? I mean, can you imagine them writing the bill for this? They wouldn’t even know what to write about. I’m getting very, very tired of the religious right in politics trying to legislate science. If they really want to pick a fight with science, they will lose. Kitzmiller v. Dover is a good example of that.
“… since when do non-scientists get to meddle in things they don’t understand?”
Actually… No, never mind.
I’m just saying that non-experts don’t get to have a say in what the experts are doing…
Unless you’re in charge of public education in Texas.
Fortunately, as a certified teacher in Texas, I get to teach whatever I want as long as it comes from a primary source… that doesn’t mean all teachers do that. Also, these loopholes in the TEKS are designed to get “creation science” taught in the science classroom by less informed teachers, but it’s becoming a bigger and bigger deal and may result in a polarizing effect which motivates swing voters and independents to side against the religious right in favor of true fiscal Republicans. I think Perry(Gov. Goodhair, creationist) is in for the fight of his life against KB Huchison (a pro-choice, fiscal Rebuplican)… that’s why he’s putting these idiot creationists in charge of the SBOE in the first place… he’s pandering to the far right in hopes of keeping his job.
Now, as for the national Congress, with a majority of dems in charge now, it’s unlikely that this ridiculous chimera law will ever get passed. It’s just more pandering to the uninformed, science-illiterate religious right.
“true fiscal Republicans”
Are those on the endangered species list yet? (And do they wear kilts?) The Republicans held the White House for the previous 8 years, during a portion of that time they held the WH, Senate and House, and the result did not in any way resemble what I would call “fiscal conservatism.”
LOL! True dat!
(I use the term fiscal/anti-Federalist Republican as opposed to religious right Republican… this seems to be the split that is happening in that party now.)
Thats good to hear, as far as a bit of latitude when it comes to academic freedom.
Are pig transplants kosher?
That’s their problem. :)
I wonder if a person of Jewish or Muslim faith can accept a porcine heart valve transplant?
I don’t know about muslims but most rabbis allow jews to get porcine valves etc. I’m not sure exactly what is the point from the Halacha (jewish religious law) that is used to allow it. As for the article, reprograming of adult cells into stem cell like cells is a very hot topic in biology at the moment. I don’t see the big deal of doing it to pigs since it was done already with human cells where the hope is that in the future we will be able to take cells from the patient and make stem cells that, being his own cells, are genetically identical to the recipient therefore eliminating the problem of rejection completely.
What’s so bad about taking a patient’s cells to grow a new organ they need that there needs to be a debate about it?
The problem with using reprogramed cells are not due to a ethical/religious debate like with regular stem cells. The technology is just too young and there is still a lot of research that need to be done to verify that these cells really function like regular stem cells and won’t cause some problem at a later time. Add to that the fact that while we know a lot more about stem cells then we did a few years ago and the methods to make them differentiate into a specific cell type edvance daily we are still a long way from being able to make a complete organ. once these rather large technological problems are solved the possibilities are amazing getting the original cells will have no risk since we will be able to use a skin cell.
I don’t think anybody is expecting to be able to grow whole organs anytime soon, but growing beta cells would be nice! There seem to be a large number of disease that can be cured by specific cell transplants, but the cure is often not worth the immunosuppressant therapy, which obviously would not be necessary when using the patient’s own cells.
Yes, good point. Although I’m sure there are applications here because the question remains as to whether or not we could harvest adult stem cells from a person’s heart without damaging it. This is also the problem with neural stem cells– no way to get them without digging deep into a person’s brain. I guess people like to keep several research lines open since the fiasco with G Dubya’s moratorium on human embryonic stem cells. Sure some rejection problems remain, but they can be overcome with drugs similar to the ones they currently use when putting one human’s heart into another person.
(my comment is @ Yoav)
If this bill only bans human-animal hybrids, I am safe, but if it bans all human hybrids, I am fucked, because all pharmaceutical insulin is produced from non-pathogenic E. coli with genes for human insulin (or a human insulin analog like lyspro (Humalog), aspart (Novalog), glargine (Lantus), etc.), with the not-so-notable exception of pork insulin, which is rarely used. Seriously, politicians need to actually open a science book before they can blabber about the ethics of medicine.
If you really want to interpret it widely, most everyone is banned if you include micro-chimerism, the cell exchange between mother and foetus which happens naturally and quite commonly. It can also happen with blood transfusions.
I know a few biomedics who are very, very worried about the implications of this. Zootropism (diseases which mutate from animal diseases to human diseases) are poorly understood, and the thinking is that pig organs will introduce a whole range of new nasties into the population. Remember, pigs harbour an awful lot of diseases!
Shhhh… don’t tell PETA.