Genetic Engineering Publications - GEG Tech top picks

While porcine organs are considered promising, their use has been checked by concerns about transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) to humans. Here, the scientists describe the eradication of all PERVs in a porcine kidney epithelial cell line (PK15). Using CRISPR-Cas9, they disrupted all 62 copies of the PERV pol gene and demonstrated a >1000-fold reduction in PERV transmission to human cells using their engineered cells. This study shows that CRISPR-Cas9 demonstrates the possibility that PERVs can be inactivated for clinical application to porcine-to-human xenotransplantation.

www.geg-tech.com/Vectors

Xenotransplantation has been proposed as a solution to the shortage of suitable human donors for transplantation and pigs are currently favoured as donor animals. However, xenotransplantation may be associated with the transmission of zoonotic microorganisms.The zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology was used to reduce the risk of horizontal PERV transmission and to knock out as many as possible proviruses.

www.geg-tech.com/Vectors