Medical Applications of A Clawn Miniature Swine

Kagoshima University has developed the Clawn miniature swine strains of defined SLA, which are maintained and produced in Japan Farm Clawn Institute (JFCI) as the facility to supply 400-500 inbred Clawn miniature swine per year. We are planning to expand the facility to supply the miniature swine not only to the researchers in Japan but also those outside the country. Body weight of Clawn miniature pig is about 30 kg by 1 year old, and it is up to 50 kg like a human even if it grows up, but it is dimension of around a one-fifth from a quarter of edible pig. We are going to develop this miniature swine for medical use, including endoscopic surgical training and TG or KO miniature pig to generate “disease model” or “donor animal for cyto-and organ-xenotransplantation”. The studies concerning the nature of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) and the control of its infection to mankind are essential to swine-to-human xenotransplantation. On the basis of these studies we will establish the scientific standard to keep the human security. In the future, we hope that our center will greatly contribute to an international network of miniature swine user in biomedical research and life science education.