Xenotransplantation Essay
expensive and risky immunosuppressant drugs that help suppress the body's immune system. A special seaweed based coating is used encapsulate the porcine islet cells in order to protect it from the antigen HLA.
Biological Implications of Xenotransplantation
One major positive implication xenotransplantation has on biology is that it prevents hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose); a common condition that exists between people with Type 1 Diabetes. Hyperglycaemia can also lead to a serious illness called Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Xenotransplantation prevents hyperglycaemia because the pig's pancreatic islets that have been infused into the patient's liver help regulate a healthy blood glucose level naturally and effectively as the beta cells …show more content…
are now not being attacked. Therefore, beta cells are able to produce the insulin needed to increase the uptake of glucose by cells and therefore bring blood glucose levels down to a healthy level when they increase. This will result in a constant blood glucose level that will not fluctuate - meaning it will not increase or decrease above or below normal levels keeping blood glucose levels healthy.
While trying to cure Type 1 Diabetes by the xenotransplantation of pig's islets into a human other diseases may also arise. There are 25 diseases known to man that can be contacted from a pig to a human and these diseases may be deadly and harmful not only to the patient but also others as the diseases may spread. Diseases can include swine flue, AIDS and PERV. People affected by the disease will have to take medication or even treatment to get rid of the diseases or even find a way to cure new diseases that could potentially arise. This has a negative impact on society as these diseases may be deadly and decrease population and money will be spent for any sort of treatment and medication.
Another negative implication xenotransplantation has on biology is that there are always high chances of our human bodies rejecting the foreign cells, organs and tissues that have been transplanted and can then be fatal. In this case, every time a pig's pancreatic islets are transplanted into a human body, there is a chance it will reject it. This is because the human body can detect foreign cells with an antigen called HLA. There are three types of rejection that can occur with the xenotransplantation of pig's islets into humans: hyperacute rejection, acute rejection and cellular rejection. Certain problems may arise with these rejections so we must try and counteract them. The most common form is using immunosuppressant drugs. Another popular way is encasing the pig's islets in seaweed in order to reduce the chances of our bodies rejecting the pig's islets.
Social Implications of Xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation has both a positive and negative impact on society.
Since xenotransplantation replaces the damaged islets the patient's body is now able to create the insulin to counteract high blood glucose by itself. Thus, the need to inject insulin throughout the day and monthly check-ups are not required. The time used to do these things can instead be used to spend time on the things that are more important to the patient such as family, friends and work or study. This will enable them to build better and stronger relationships with the ones they love and can also help them do things they couldn't before. In short, it will let them live their life.
Another positive is that xenotransplantation is deemed cost-effective. In USA both Markov Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulations carried out a study to see the cost-effectiveness of porcine islet transplantation compared to standard insulin therapy. The effectiveness of both these procedures was measured by 'Quality-adjusted life years' (QALYs). Porcine islet transplantation proved to be a more cost-effective procedure at $659,00 per patient with an effectiveness of 10.9 QALYs whereas standard insulin therapy was more expensive at a cost of $661,000 with an effectiveness of 9.4 QALYs. In conclusion porcine islet transplantation is better and cheaper for society than standard insulin therapy. It is however a one-off payment while standard insulin medication may be paid monthly or yearly. One way to solve this is to break up the amount over a certain period so people are able to pay and afford porcine islet
transplantation.
Pigs are the most popular and most suitable animals to transplant organs from due to the compatibility that exists between them and humans. Since the pigs are of a limited number, the islets must also be of limited supply. Keeping up with the demand for pig's islets will be hard so there may be a need to breed the pigs somewhere. This has a negative, economical impact on society as a lot of money will be needed and used to set up these breeding places. Breeding places will be expensive and time consuming as pigs must be in a germ-free condition so that diseases and viruses do not arise.
People Against Xenotransplantation
Many groups of people are against xenotransplantation for many reasons. These groups include the 'Campaign for Responsible Transplantation' and 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals'.
The 'Campaign for Responsible Transplantation' (CRT) opposes the procedure xenotransplantation as they believe that this type of technology is "dangerous, expensive, inhumane, unnecessary, and therefore should be banned." They view the past xenotransplantation procedures as failures with a lot of animal and human suffering involved. They do not think that any lives should be put under risk.
The 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) bases their opposition on animals. PETA believes that 'animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.' Experimenting with porcine islets from pigs counteracts what they stand by. They believe that animals should not suffer for our own good and that they should have a chance to live just like we do as humans. One philosopher who agrees with this is Australian Peter Singer who says "animals deserve equal consideration of interests. Pain is pain, whatever the species of being that experiences it." Other people, however, have different ideas such as Jeff Getty, an aids patient. In a letter to Wall Street Journal he stated, "You can't be for AIDS, breast cancer and diabetes research and also support militant animal rights groups". What Jeff Getty means is that to progress scientifically against all types of diseases animal research is important.
While both groups have very valid, respectable points I disagree. In my opinion, CRT does not have a stable reason as any research that deals with diseases has its risks and are also very expensive. With PETA I see their point but does it matter when pigs are already being slaughtered for food? One way to look at this problem would be how to decrease the amount of pigs needed. For example, since it is already acceptable to slaughter pigs we may as well extract the porcine islets from the pig that has just been slaughtered, while also making sure they carry no viruses or diseases that could potentially become airbourne. Xenotransplantation is a potential key to saving people's lives and when a person's life is at stake we want to make sure we can do everything that we can to keep them alive no matter the cost.
People For Xenotransplantation
According to a poll, 71% of the public would consider doing xenotransplantation for their family member if a human organ was not available.
With the amount of people suffering from Type 1 diabetes or knows someone who is there is
Biological Implications of Xenotransplantation
One major positive implication xenotransplantation has on biology is that it prevents hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose); a common condition that exists between people with Type 1 Diabetes. Hyperglycaemia can also lead to a serious illness called Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Xenotransplantation prevents hyperglycaemia because the pig's pancreatic islets that have been infused into the patient's liver help regulate a healthy blood glucose level naturally and effectively as the beta cells …show more content…
are now not being attacked. Therefore, beta cells are able to produce the insulin needed to increase the uptake of glucose by cells and therefore bring blood glucose levels down to a healthy level when they increase. This will result in a constant blood glucose level that will not fluctuate - meaning it will not increase or decrease above or below normal levels keeping blood glucose levels healthy.
While trying to cure Type 1 Diabetes by the xenotransplantation of pig's islets into a human other diseases may also arise. There are 25 diseases known to man that can be contacted from a pig to a human and these diseases may be deadly and harmful not only to the patient but also others as the diseases may spread. Diseases can include swine flue, AIDS and PERV. People affected by the disease will have to take medication or even treatment to get rid of the diseases or even find a way to cure new diseases that could potentially arise. This has a negative impact on society as these diseases may be deadly and decrease population and money will be spent for any sort of treatment and medication.
Another negative implication xenotransplantation has on biology is that there are always high chances of our human bodies rejecting the foreign cells, organs and tissues that have been transplanted and can then be fatal. In this case, every time a pig's pancreatic islets are transplanted into a human body, there is a chance it will reject it. This is because the human body can detect foreign cells with an antigen called HLA. There are three types of rejection that can occur with the xenotransplantation of pig's islets into humans: hyperacute rejection, acute rejection and cellular rejection. Certain problems may arise with these rejections so we must try and counteract them. The most common form is using immunosuppressant drugs. Another popular way is encasing the pig's islets in seaweed in order to reduce the chances of our bodies rejecting the pig's islets.
Social Implications of Xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation has both a positive and negative impact on society.
Since xenotransplantation replaces the damaged islets the patient's body is now able to create the insulin to counteract high blood glucose by itself. Thus, the need to inject insulin throughout the day and monthly check-ups are not required. The time used to do these things can instead be used to spend time on the things that are more important to the patient such as family, friends and work or study. This will enable them to build better and stronger relationships with the ones they love and can also help them do things they couldn't before. In short, it will let them live their life.
Another positive is that xenotransplantation is deemed cost-effective. In USA both Markov Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulations carried out a study to see the cost-effectiveness of porcine islet transplantation compared to standard insulin therapy. The effectiveness of both these procedures was measured by 'Quality-adjusted life years' (QALYs). Porcine islet transplantation proved to be a more cost-effective procedure at $659,00 per patient with an effectiveness of 10.9 QALYs whereas standard insulin therapy was more expensive at a cost of $661,000 with an effectiveness of 9.4 QALYs. In conclusion porcine islet transplantation is better and cheaper for society than standard insulin therapy. It is however a one-off payment while standard insulin medication may be paid monthly or yearly. One way to solve this is to break up the amount over a certain period so people are able to pay and afford porcine islet
transplantation.
Pigs are the most popular and most suitable animals to transplant organs from due to the compatibility that exists between them and humans. Since the pigs are of a limited number, the islets must also be of limited supply. Keeping up with the demand for pig's islets will be hard so there may be a need to breed the pigs somewhere. This has a negative, economical impact on society as a lot of money will be needed and used to set up these breeding places. Breeding places will be expensive and time consuming as pigs must be in a germ-free condition so that diseases and viruses do not arise.
People Against Xenotransplantation
Many groups of people are against xenotransplantation for many reasons. These groups include the 'Campaign for Responsible Transplantation' and 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals'.
The 'Campaign for Responsible Transplantation' (CRT) opposes the procedure xenotransplantation as they believe that this type of technology is "dangerous, expensive, inhumane, unnecessary, and therefore should be banned." They view the past xenotransplantation procedures as failures with a lot of animal and human suffering involved. They do not think that any lives should be put under risk.
The 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) bases their opposition on animals. PETA believes that 'animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.' Experimenting with porcine islets from pigs counteracts what they stand by. They believe that animals should not suffer for our own good and that they should have a chance to live just like we do as humans. One philosopher who agrees with this is Australian Peter Singer who says "animals deserve equal consideration of interests. Pain is pain, whatever the species of being that experiences it." Other people, however, have different ideas such as Jeff Getty, an aids patient. In a letter to Wall Street Journal he stated, "You can't be for AIDS, breast cancer and diabetes research and also support militant animal rights groups". What Jeff Getty means is that to progress scientifically against all types of diseases animal research is important.
While both groups have very valid, respectable points I disagree. In my opinion, CRT does not have a stable reason as any research that deals with diseases has its risks and are also very expensive. With PETA I see their point but does it matter when pigs are already being slaughtered for food? One way to look at this problem would be how to decrease the amount of pigs needed. For example, since it is already acceptable to slaughter pigs we may as well extract the porcine islets from the pig that has just been slaughtered, while also making sure they carry no viruses or diseases that could potentially become airbourne. Xenotransplantation is a potential key to saving people's lives and when a person's life is at stake we want to make sure we can do everything that we can to keep them alive no matter the cost.
People For Xenotransplantation
According to a poll, 71% of the public would consider doing xenotransplantation for their family member if a human organ was not available.
With the amount of people suffering from Type 1 diabetes or knows someone who is there is