So how does the beast in homers Iliad- a chimera, comprised of an amalgamation of species- lion, snake and goat- become an intriguing area of science.
PART A
A chimera in the scientific literature is an organism containing two or more different cell lineages. the idea of chimerism has been around for many years, but recently it has suggested a potential new way to solve the world wide shortage of organs.
Currently the wait for a heart or kidney transplant is estimated to be 3 years in the NHS
A chimera could be used to produce a human organ within a pig, creating a new pool of organs available for transplantation. The technique is called blastocyst complementation where an embryo (a blastocyst) is produced lacking the gene involved in a specific organ’s development. For example, lacking the SALL1 gene, which is involved in kidney formation, thus if this embryo were to develop, it would not develop a kidney it would be anephrogenic. However, if this embryo at the early blastocyst stage were to have stem cells or blastomeres from another embryo that had all genes functioning transplanted. Then these cells would be able to complement the lack of the gene and produce the new organ, as the cells are in an environement with the sufficient signals from the developing embryo. But the organ (in this case a kidney) would be generated via different DNA to the rest of the organism, therefore, creating a chimeric animal. Matsunari et al has shown proof of concept in pigs creating models for pancreas, kidney, and liver regeneration via blastocyst complementation. This suggests that if the blastocyst were to be complemented using human induced pluripotent stem cells, then it could produce a new source of human organs using pigs.
IS IT UNETHICAL TO PRODUCE A CHIMERA USING HUMAN CELLS AND ANOTHER SPECIES ?
This process has the potential to revolutionise the treatment for many diseases that detrimentally effect whole organs. Yet why isn’t it headline news! This technique has one major crux- that it is not viewed as ethically acceptable. Simply put, the production of a human/porcine chimera is highly questionable, there is the possibility of off-target effects and a pig being a mosaic of human cells and its own. What if this technique produced a mutant organism capable communication or development of a conscience, thus whilst interesting this technique does blur the lines between science fiction and real life. Other issues concern the spread of disease between the pig and the donor. However, recently in January the first pig heart transplantation given to a man with heart failure occurred. That whilst, unfortunately was unsuccessful, demonstrates that blastocyst complementation isn’t as far-fetched as first thought and could have potential in the future of regenerative medicine.
Or do you think a chimera should remain as merely a mythological beast?
PART B
SURVEY
I am currently interested in peoples learning styles and preferences of media it would really help me if you filled out this survey in relation to this blog post 'An ANCIENT mythological beast or the FUTURE of regenerative medicine'.
References:
- Images used with permission of Motifolio
- NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (2021) Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation activity report(2020/2021). Available at: https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/23461/activity-report-2020-2021.pdf (Acessed:11.04.22)
- Matsunari, H., Watanabe, M., Hasegawa, K., Uchikura, A., Nakano, K., Umeyama, K., Masaki, H., Hamanaka, S., Yamaguchi, T., Nagaya, M. and Nishinakamura, R., 2020. Compensation of disabled organogeneses in genetically modified pig fetuses by blastocyst complementation.stem cell reports, 14(1), pp.21-33.
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