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No evidence of porcine endogenous retrovirus in patients with type 1 diabetes after long‐term porcine islet xenotransplantation
Author(s) -
ValdesGonzalez Rafael,
Dorantes Luis M.,
BrachoBlanchet Eduardo,
RodríguezVentura Ana,
DJG White
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21655
Subject(s) - xenotransplantation , medicine , islet , type 2 diabetes , virology , diabetes mellitus , viremia , endogenous retrovirus , retrovirus , biology , transplantation , immunology , virus , endocrinology , genome , gene , biochemistry
Xenotransplantation is a promising alternative for donor shortage to ameliorate physiologic and metabolic disorders. The major concern for xenotransplant is the risk of zoonosis mainly by the porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), presentation in the piglet genome. Twenty‐three patients with type 1 diabetes were transplanted with porcine islets using collagen‐generating devices which were implanted subcutaneously in the anterior wall of the abdomen. Clinical characteristics and metabolic tests were recorded in each visit. They were tested for PERV using PCR and RT‐PCR from blood pretransplantation and every 3 months during a 4.6‐ to 8‐year follow‐up after their first xenotransplant. Tests by PCR of every DNA sample (780 samples) revealed that there was no PERV infection in the DNA of white cells. No evidence of PERV activation was found in this group of patients with type 1 diabetes during clinical long‐term follow‐up. J. Med. Virol. 82:331–334, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.