{"id":46959,"date":"2003-01-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-01-31T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:45:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:45:56","slug":"new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/","title":{"rendered":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without\n\nsevere immune suppression"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope<\/p>\n

to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex<\/p>\n

, Inc. in conjunction with researchers from the University of Nebraska<\/p>\n

Medical Center has demonstrated that acute rejection of pig heart transplants<\/p>\n

could be prevented without the need for severe immune suppression. <\/p>\n

The findings were reported in the February issue of the Annals of Surgery.<\/p>\n

Most candidates for an organ transplant do not receive one because of<\/p>\n

a severe shortage of human organ donors. Pig organ transplants (xenografts)<\/p>\n

could solve the problem, but scientists have been frustrated in their efforts<\/p>\n

to prevent rejection. With current technology, severe immune suppression<\/p>\n

would be required, leaving the recipient vulnerable to infection.<\/p>\n

Our findings represent a key step towards ultimately being able to<\/p>\n

use pig organs in humans with organ failure or diabetes, said William<\/p>\n

E. Beschorner, M.D., founder and president of Ximerex (KI-MER-ex), Inc.<\/p>\n

and an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical<\/p>\n

Center. In addition to heart transplants, the technology developed in<\/p>\n

this study would also be applicable to kidney, liver and pancreatic islet<\/p>\n

cell transplants.<\/p>\n

In the study, 13 experimental sheep received heart grafts from pigs<\/p>\n

containing sheep cells. Only one developed acute vascular rejection typical<\/p>\n

of pig xenograft rejection. Five developed a milder form of rejection,<\/p>\n

cellular rejection, which responded to steroid therapy. Cellular rejection<\/p>\n

is typically seen following a human-to-human organ transplant. The remaining<\/p>\n

seven sheep, followed for up to 70 days, never developed significant rejection.<\/p>\n

The recipient sheep experienced minimal complications and retained their<\/p>\n

ability to fight infections.<\/p>\n

In contrast, all 12 of the control sheep, transplanted with heart grafts<\/p>\n

from pigs not containing sheep cells, rejected their grafts by acute vascular<\/p>\n

rejection in four to eight days, even though they received the same immune<\/p>\n

suppression.<\/p>\n

The key to this breakthrough was the transfusion of bone marrow cells<\/p>\n

from the recipient sheep into the donor pigs during fetal development.<\/p>\n

After the pigs were born, white cells from the pigs spleen, containing<\/p>\n

both sheep and pig cells were transfused into the recipient sheep, followed<\/p>\n

by the heart transplant. Modest immune suppression was given, less than<\/p>\n

that given for a human receiving a human heart transplant.<\/p>\n

Dr. Beschorner, senior author of the study, said growing the patients<\/p>\n

cells within the donor pig accomplishes the major goals of transplantation<\/p>\n

within the donor pig, before performing the transplant.<\/p>\n

The fetal pig environment is ideal for the growth of cells from another<\/p>\n

species. It also is ideal for the development of immune tolerance and tissue<\/p>\n

accommodation, he said. The patients cells learn to ignore the pig tissues.<\/p>\n

The donor pig tissues become adapted to resist injury by antibodies against<\/p>\n

pig tissues. The dilemma in xenotransplantation has been that pig organs<\/p>\n

are very different from human organs, triggering severe rejection reactions.<\/p>\n

How do you block these reactions and leave the patients immune system<\/p>\n

intact? Our method of transplanting the donor pig gets us past this roadblock.<\/p>\n

Before our new technology can be tested in human recipients, we need<\/p>\n

to do the appropriate studies in non-human primates. Those could prove<\/p>\n

more challenging than our study in sheep. However, we have successfully<\/p>\n

grown human cells in fetal pigs, so we are optimistic about the non-human<\/p>\n

primate transplant studies.<\/p>\n

Dr. Beschorner said the primate studies would take one to two years.<\/p>\n

Funds to support these trials must first be obtained.<\/p>\n

Each year 750,000 Americans die of heart failure. The International<\/p>\n

Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation estimates that 50,000 lives could<\/p>\n

be saved with heart transplants. However, due to the shortage of donor<\/p>\n

organs, only about 2,200 transplants are performed.<\/p>\n

It is estimated that if xenotransplantation were as effective as human<\/p>\n

organ transplantation, 500,000 Americans could be helped each year. In<\/p>\n

the developed world, as many as 1.3 million patients could be helped annually.<\/p>\n

The average reimbursement rate for procuring a human organ is about $25,000.<\/p>\n

At this rate, the potential market would be about $32 billion.<\/p>\n

Dr. Beschorner is an experimental pathologist and has been studying<\/p>\n

the problems associated with organ transplantation for more than 25 years.<\/p>\n

His early studies in this field were done at the Johns Hopkins Hospital<\/p>\n

in Baltimore, Md. He relocated to Nebraska in 1997.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in conjunction with researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center has demonstrated that acute rejection of pig heart transplants could be prevented without the need for severe immune […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nNew technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\"},\"headline\":\"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":710,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/\",\"name\":\"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2003\\\/01\\\/31\\\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/unmcedu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/unmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/iamunmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\",\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/strategic-communications\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/author\\\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression","description":"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression","og_description":"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00","author":"UNMC Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UNMC Today","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/"},"author":{"name":"UNMC Today","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621"},"headline":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression","datePublished":"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/"},"wordCount":710,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/","name":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2003-01-31T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T15:45:56+00:00","description":"In a major innovation in organ transplantation that could offer hope to millions of Americans with organ failure or diabetes, a study by Ximerex , Inc. in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/01\/31\/new-technology-prevents-rejection-of-pig-organs-withoutsevere-immune-suppression\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New technology prevents rejection of pig organs without severe immune suppression"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621","name":"UNMC Today","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications"],"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74902,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46959\/revisions\/74902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}