Xenozoonoses in xenotransplantation*

Pig to human xenotransplantation is one of the possible ways to solve the problem of organ shortage, but the potential risk of xenozoonoses hinders the progress of xenotransplantation. Among pathogens that might cause xenozoonoses, porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) is undoubtedly the most noticeable. Current researches show that PERV exists in pigs' genomes and is able to express in multiple tissues and organs in pigs. Other experiments also show that PERV could successfully infect several human cell lines in vitro and could infect SCID mice through pig to mouse islet transplantation. The discussion and research on the risk of PERV is one of the hottest topics in current xenotransplantation, but the question of whether PERV will transmit to human through xenotransplantation has not been answered due to the lack of suitable animal models. More work should be done to evaluate the risk of xenozoonoses caused by PERV after pig to human xenotransplantation.