Xenotransplantation

Imagine you are suffering in the hospital from organ failure and all you need is an organ transplant to turn your life around; however, being able to attain one requires excellent luck. Organ shortages should not be disregarded, as they have been an ongoing issue for many years. Though concerns about the use of animals for transplant have raised ethical concerns, it shouldn't eliminate this revolutionary discovery. Xenotransplantation is already a great technology that will only improve; there are areas for growth and fitting ethical concerns but scientists are on track to overtake these hurdles. Xenotransplantation has been doubted by many due to the risks of its side effects, but accounting for the significant shortage of organs right now and with advancing technology, this technology could save thousands of lives.

Organ Supply Shortage

With the struggle of organ shortages in the US, Xenotransplantation offers potential relief from the organ shortage crisis. From the 1950s to the present time, organ supply has been a recurring issue, and it is only getting worse. According to Mary Sauer, "43,000 organ transplants were performed in the US… but 105,000 patients were on the organ waitlist in the US." The significant gap in the number of organ transplants and the overwhelming waitlist over decades emphasizes the severity of the organ shortage crisis and how the necessity of new technologies is crucial since the problem is not getting better.

Due to several increasing factors such as the aging population, chronic pain, and increase in disease, another study by the National Library of Medicine says that in just 2006, the number of patients on the waitlist increased to over 95,000. Then, due to the lack of transplants for this spiked population, the number of patient deaths were over 6,300. Due to these undersupplied patients, their lives are the cost they have to face.

The Consequence of Organ Shortages

Although many people are dying year by year due to this singular issue, lives are not the only fallout of this crisis. First, there is a spike in the illegal trade of organs for an exceedingly large amount of money. Due to organ shortages, many convicts have started an internationally illegal business of selling organs on the "red market." The red market is a term that refers to the illegal trade of organs in an underground black market.

The red market may seem quite shady and unlikely to be successful to the common eye; however, as Arianna L. Bianchino writes, "Buyers are typically driven to the red market as a last-ditch effort to save their lives and sellers usually participate because of the endless opportunities to make a profit." The fierce desperation that buyers project encourages this criminal activity, which is solely based on consumerism. If organ shortages could be stopped, there would be no need or continuation of such illegal activities.

Purpose and Societal Impact of Xenotransplantation

With the shortage crisis, doctors have been trying to come up with numerous altering technologies to help the dilemma, one of them being Xenotransplantation, an advancement that saves millions of lives and gives people a more secure "last chance" option. Xenotransplantation transfers organs, tissues, or cells from an animal to a human. The main goal is to help the problem of organ shortages and give people who are struggling to find donors a more sure option to trust.

Pigs are commonly used for this new advantage since they are physiologically similar to humans. Pigs are also easy to modify genetically, meaning that doctors could genetically modify their DNA to reduce the risks of humans rejecting the organ. In a Xenotransplantation experiment by Robert P. Lanza, David K. C. Cooper, and William L. Chick, they used pig cells to implant into monkeys, and the results have been incredibly responsive, specifically in the islet and corneal.

The Ethical Debate

The most significant setback that Xenotransplantation is currently facing is following ethical protocols; this topic is being debated amongst many people even today. The prominent concern people acknowledge when learning about this progression is: What about the animals? The animals have their organs extracted from them for the pure benefit of humans, but people are debating whether this is right or not.

Three central clinical ethics principles are Autonomy, beneficence, and justice. The ethical debate is complex, so one would have to compare the greater magnitude of human benefit and animal welfare. It is subjective based on the person on whether human lives should be considered more important than animal lives and if putting them at risk for humans is selfish, so doctors have been looking for work around ways to pass all ethical conditions.

Future Developments

There are several significant setbacks that Xenotransplantation doctors are facing from several different industries questioning their discovery, yet with the number of advancements and improvements scientists have made decade after decade, the future is promising. A recent study published on May 12, 2024 on CNN, discusses a research experiment where they implanted a pig's organ into a 62 year old man, as his last resort option since he was about to die. He ended up becoming the first living person from a genetically edited pig kidney and lived a few additional months before his inevitable death came.

Although the man ended up dying, this milestone only foreshadows the future of this advancement. When normal human organ transplants started, most people died on the dot, yet we developed transplantation to where it can help people live another 10-15 years, possibly the rest of their lives. This example is applicable to xenotransplantation's development in future years as well.

Conclusion

In conclusion, remembering that lives are being held back from being saved is important, even if there are a few ethical questions around this subject. Although ethical consideration should not be overlooked, having a supply of organs large enough to support the 100,000 people put at risk per year heavily outweighs. Although there are definitely places for improvement in xenotransplantation, we already see a promising future with examples such as with the 62 year old man on CNN that got a semi-successful transplant. Overall, xenotransplantation is highly effective in many different areas and over the course of the next few years it will become a game changer for patients all around the world.