5 ms·

I heard they are humanized 'pigs'. Ie. engineered so their organs don't trigger our immune system. Not sure how true is this, or it is just a myth.

Finnucane 5y ago
The article states they changed a sugar that triggered rejection.
- pazimzadeh 5y ago
  Exactly: "More than 95% of human anti-pig antibodies are directed against 3 pig carbohydrates: Gal 1 to 3αGal (≈80%–90%), Neu5Gc (≈5%–15%), and β4Gal (1%–5%)" "To reduce anti-pig antibody binding to the xenograft, the 3 principal carbohydrate antigen targets have each been successfully removed from pigs by gene knockout (KO) (Figure 3)" Progress Toward Cardiac Xenotransplantation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7990044/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7990044/
decebalus1 5y ago
Careful with that. You might end up with pigoons [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake
- foobiekr 5y ago
  a great series, at least the first two books I think O&C and The Year of the Flood represent the most likely near-future world, maybe 2035 or so, of any science fiction I can name.
shagie 5y ago
The Alpha Gal sugar. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/alpha-gal https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/alpha... and https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/return-alpha-gal https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/retur... are good listens on the subject. In particular from the second one: > SOREN: Which brings me back to that little part of the article that piqued my interest in the beginning, because the pig that they got the kidney from to do this was a very special pig. Normally, pigs and other mammals that aren't primates have a sugar in their body that our bodies don't have, and so we don't like it or see it as foreign. And that's why usually an organ from another animal would get rejected. But this pig had been genetically modified. It had had the gene that makes that sugar removed, so it didn't have that sugar. Which is part of the reason this worked. And that sugar just so happens to be called "alpha-gal."
- krisoft 5y ago
  Now I wonder if someone who got meat alergy after a tick bite could eat these pigs. Is this the same alpha gal in both cases? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy
  - type_enthusiast 5y ago
    Yes – they also discussed this pretty extensively in the RadioLab segment. In the second segment (linked by GP), they first re-played the previous segment (also linked by GP) about alpha-gal allergy. They then revealed that the company behind the alpha-gal safe pigs (which are being grown for medial research purposes) heard the previous one about the alpha-gal allergy, and after hearing it decided to seek FDA approval for alpha-gal safe pigs in the food market (which they received).
  - greensoap 5y ago
    Yes, they can. That was the focus of the RadioLab update on the Alpha Gal pigs. The person that loved meat before getting the allergy had moved on to a non-meat life. And when the company started marketing alpha gal safe meat, that person was the inspiration and the person was not happy about it.

Finnucane 5y ago

The article states they changed a sugar that triggered rejection.

pazimzadeh 5y ago
Exactly: "More than 95% of human anti-pig antibodies are directed against 3 pig carbohydrates: Gal 1 to 3αGal (≈80%–90%), Neu5Gc (≈5%–15%), and β4Gal (1%–5%)" "To reduce anti-pig antibody binding to the xenograft, the 3 principal carbohydrate antigen targets have each been successfully removed from pigs by gene knockout (KO) (Figure 3)" Progress Toward Cardiac Xenotransplantation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7990044/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7990044/

decebalus1 5y ago

Careful with that. You might end up with pigoons [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake

foobiekr 5y ago
a great series, at least the first two books I think O&C and The Year of the Flood represent the most likely near-future world, maybe 2035 or so, of any science fiction I can name.

shagie 5y ago

The Alpha Gal sugar. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/alpha-gal https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/alpha... and https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/return-alpha-gal https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/retur... are good listens on the subject. In particular from the second one: > SOREN: Which brings me back to that little part of the article that piqued my interest in the beginning, because the pig that they got the kidney from to do this was a very special pig. Normally, pigs and other mammals that aren't primates have a sugar in their body that our bodies don't have, and so we don't like it or see it as foreign. And that's why usually an organ from another animal would get rejected. But this pig had been genetically modified. It had had the gene that makes that sugar removed, so it didn't have that sugar. Which is part of the reason this worked. And that sugar just so happens to be called "alpha-gal."

krisoft 5y ago
Now I wonder if someone who got meat alergy after a tick bite could eat these pigs. Is this the same alpha gal in both cases? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy
- type_enthusiast 5y ago
  Yes – they also discussed this pretty extensively in the RadioLab segment. In the second segment (linked by GP), they first re-played the previous segment (also linked by GP) about alpha-gal allergy. They then revealed that the company behind the alpha-gal safe pigs (which are being grown for medial research purposes) heard the previous one about the alpha-gal allergy, and after hearing it decided to seek FDA approval for alpha-gal safe pigs in the food market (which they received).
- greensoap 5y ago
  Yes, they can. That was the focus of the RadioLab update on the Alpha Gal pigs. The person that loved meat before getting the allergy had moved on to a non-meat life. And when the company started marketing alpha gal safe meat, that person was the inspiration and the person was not happy about it.