Infection and xenotransplantation: Assessing the risks

Abstract

The success of human-to-human organ transplantation in the treatment of a variety of types of organ failure has resulted in a growing shortage in the availability of human organs for such procedures. Xenotransplantation, or transplantation of organs or tissues from non-human species into human recipients, has been proposed as a potential solution to the shortage of human organ and tissue donors. As is the case for allotransplantation, the need for long-term immune suppression for the prevention of graft rejection has as a major side effect the development of opportunistic infections and malignancy in the xenotransplant recipient. The use of non-human species as organ donors carries a risk in that organisms derived from another species and possibly not normally associated with human disease may gain entry and cause infection in the new human host. The unique aspect of this risk is that organisms from other