German Researchers Plan to Breed Pigs for Human Heart Transplants

Germany Plans to Breed Pigs for Human Heart Transplants in Future

GENETICALLY MODIFIED PIGS – A group of German researchers were currently planning to breed pigs for human heart transplants.

Germany is planning to breed and multiply the population of pigs in the country not for human consumption but for human heart transplants. The scientist made the plan after a team at the University of Maryland Medicine transplanted a heart from a pig to a sick man.

The doctors said that the patient is responding well with his new organ but there are risks of infection, organ rejection or high blood pressure. The operation becomes successful with the help of at least 10 modifications.

German Researchers

Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich scientist Eckhard Wolf said that the rate of organ donation in the country is very low. His team aims to breed new species modified from the Auckland Island breed.

The researchers were planning to conduct transplant trials in 2025. The team is expecting the first generation of new breed pigs to be born this year.

“Our concept is to proceed with a simpler model, namely with five genetic modifications,” Wolf said.

Wolf said that the hearts of new breed species will be first tested in baboons before seeking approval for human trial. The test transplants will be used for people with organ failure who have no other treatment options.

German Researchers

“We will only generate the founder animals via cloning and then create all further generations, so to speak, quite normally through breeding,” Wolf added.

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