USA: TRANSGENIC PIGS скачать в хорошем качестве

USA: TRANSGENIC PIGS

(5 Mar 1999) English/Nat U-S scientists have found a way to make xeno-transplantation - that is animal to human transplants - work. By developing a transgenic pig - one genetically engineered to carry human D-N-A - researchers may be able to keep humans from rejecting non-human donor organs. In the future, doctors could be able to use parts from these transgenic pigs to treat human organ failures, spinal cord injuries and illnesses such as Parkinson's disease. These are not your average pigs. They are not your average humans, either. They are somewhere in between, thanks to genetic engineering. These so-called "transgenic pigs" carry two human genes in their D-N-A, making them almost ideal organ and tissue donors for humans. Thanks to these pigs, xeno-transplantation - or animal to human transplants - may have a future. What's more, these pigs may hold the key to solving the massive shortage of kidneys, hearts and livers needed by humans. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Xeno-transplantation has advantages in two ways. One, the almost unlimited source of material. And that of course is a significant problem when one thinks of organ transplantation. There's an ever growing list of patients waiting for organs for transplantation." SUPER CAPTION: Stephen P. Squinto, Chief Technology Officer, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Alexion Pharmaceuticals, located in New Haven, Connecticut, is a mid-size biotechnology firm that has pioneered the creation of transgenic pigs. They've done so by taking the pig embryo, injecting it with D-N-A from a particular type of human gene and placing it back into the mother. A litter of about 10 piglets is born, with some percentage of them having the D-N-A of humans. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We're basically creating a stealth organ. We're tricking the immune system. The immune system of the human is going to look at this organ and think that it's just another human organ. Based on the genetics of that organ." SUPER CAPTION: Stephen P. Squinto, Chief Technology Officer, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Scientists at Alexion have already successfully transplanted pig brain cells into patients with Parkinson's disease. They have also treated patients with diabetes by using cells from the pigs' pancreas. Although the research is promising, it will be at least five years until doctors are able to use pig organs to replace human ones, of which there is a tremendous shortage everywhere in the world. In the United States alone, 40-thousand patients like Mike Loria are waiting for a new heart. About one third of transplant candidates do not survive long enough to receive a heart from someone who may have died in a car accident or been taken off life support. Having waited for a new heart since November 1998, Loria is now number three on the waiting list at the organ transplant unit at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Centre. When asked whether he would accept a pig heart, he was unequivocal. SOUNDBITE: (English) "If there were no other way? Well, I guess I'd have to be in favour of it then, because the chances of survival without a transplant are very slim." SUPER CAPTION: Mike Loria, Heart Transplant Candidate No. 3 Because the transplant patient's immune system is suppressed with drugs to avoid rejection, there are concerns that transplanted organs could bring with them new diseases caused by retroviruses now living only in pigs. A retrovirus originally transmitted from chimpanzees to humans is believed to have caused the AIDS epidemic. SOUNDBITE: (English) SOUNDBITE: (English) SUPER CAPTION: Mike Loria, Heart Transplant Candidate No. 3 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...