Xenotransplantation: A Risk Worth Taking?
What transpired in October 1984 was something akin to a scene in a science fiction novel: the first ever infant was transplanted with a baboon heart. The baby came to be known as Baby Fae, and because of a rare heart condition—and lack of money thereof—the mother gave a green light in having the transplantation of a baboon heart performed. But unlike science fiction novels, the procedure, called xenotransplantation—which involves transplanting nonhuman cells, tissues or organs into humans—did not succeed entirely. Baby Fae died in twenty one days, rejecting the organ she was transplanted with (Pence, 2008). Xenotransplantation is a murky subject, in which it has great potential to save lives, as well …show more content…
The human body is a finicky thing: it will attack anything it considers foreign by producing antibodies against it; so is the case with the wrong match in transplantation. In human to human transplantations, even the wrong blood type or HLA type could prompt an organ rejection (Matching and Compatibility, 2015). It leads to some scientists arguing that transplanting nonhuman organs into humans will increase the possibility of rejection. This is because of obvious dissimilarities between human and nonhuman tissues, like the functionality, genetic makeup and the lifespan of the organ itself (Boneva & Chapman, 2001). For example, pig hearts work under different conditions than in humans (Candinas & Adams, 2000), and it is important to note that pigs have a shorter lifespan than ours, hence, shorter organ lifespans (Xenotransplantation, 2011). To date, no successful xenotransplantations have occurred; subjects have died either within a few months or less. As shown before, Baby Fae is one example; another, in 1993, was a patient who received a baboon liver and lived for 26 days. One more is in 1992: they received a pig heart but died within a day (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 1996). With this evidence, it is clear to some that xenotransplantation is not a viable
What transpired in October 1984 was something akin to a scene in a science fiction novel: the first ever infant was transplanted with a baboon heart. The baby came to be known as Baby Fae, and because of a rare heart condition—and lack of money thereof—the mother gave a green light in having the transplantation of a baboon heart performed. But unlike science fiction novels, the procedure, called xenotransplantation—which involves transplanting nonhuman cells, tissues or organs into humans—did not succeed entirely. Baby Fae died in twenty one days, rejecting the organ she was transplanted with (Pence, 2008). Xenotransplantation is a murky subject, in which it has great potential to save lives, as well …show more content…
The human body is a finicky thing: it will attack anything it considers foreign by producing antibodies against it; so is the case with the wrong match in transplantation. In human to human transplantations, even the wrong blood type or HLA type could prompt an organ rejection (Matching and Compatibility, 2015). It leads to some scientists arguing that transplanting nonhuman organs into humans will increase the possibility of rejection. This is because of obvious dissimilarities between human and nonhuman tissues, like the functionality, genetic makeup and the lifespan of the organ itself (Boneva & Chapman, 2001). For example, pig hearts work under different conditions than in humans (Candinas & Adams, 2000), and it is important to note that pigs have a shorter lifespan than ours, hence, shorter organ lifespans (Xenotransplantation, 2011). To date, no successful xenotransplantations have occurred; subjects have died either within a few months or less. As shown before, Baby Fae is one example; another, in 1993, was a patient who received a baboon liver and lived for 26 days. One more is in 1992: they received a pig heart but died within a day (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 1996). With this evidence, it is clear to some that xenotransplantation is not a viable