Health
Zoonotic infections studied
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 9, 2004
Genomic researchers at the Mayo Clinic have discovered conditions in which pig cells and human cells can fuse together in the body to yield hybrid cells that contain genetic material from both species.
The combined genetic material in the study carried a swine virus similar to HIV that infects normal human cells. The research, published in the online edition of the FASEB Journal, provides scientists a new way to understand how viral infections can pass from animals to humans.
There has long been interest in discovering how and why viruses cross species, and knowledge in this area may lead to understanding of certain devastating diseases. Researchers believe that the HIV virus that causes AIDS in humans originated in wild primate populations, and the coronavirus responsible for SARS is also thought to have also crossed into humans from wild animals, possibly the civet cats of Asia.
The new findings resulted from work at Mayo on xenotransplantation as a way to ease the tremendous shortage of organs available for donation for transplantation. However, concerns have been raised that animal diseases might be introduced into humans via these organs.
The new research shows the virus can pass to human cells and it can be infectious. But whether it can actually cause disease in humans is not yet known.
"We are really working hard to figure out how it happened and what implications it might have beyond the transmission of the one virus we studied," said Jeffrey Platt, MD, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplantation Biology Program.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/09/hlbf0209.htm.
