Kidney xenotransplantation

Abstract

Xenotransplantology is a branch of medical science dealing with organ transplantation between organ­isms of different species. Constantly increasing de­mand of organs, among others of the kidneys, for transplantation makes diligently seek for alternative methods of their obtaining. At present, organs for transplantation come from living humans or de­ceased donors (allografts). For many years, xeno­transplantation have been attempted. Until recently such attempts were subject to a very high risk of failure due to hyperacute xenograft rejection. With the development of genetic engineering techniques, such modified xenograft donors (mainly pigs) the risk of hyperacute xenograft rejection was reduced and the survival time of the organ obtained from pig and transplanted to baboon was increased. This ar­ticle aims to summarize the current state of knowl­edge on xenotransplantation of kidneys obtained from pigs.