Current Aspects of Xenotransplantation in Human

Abstract

Xenotransplantation is an approach which will be able to support the increasing demand of organ donation since the organ does not need to come from humans. Up till now, xenotransplantation is still barely performed since its risk and chance of success are still not proven to be safe. One of the biggest obstacles is rejection which may lead to xenograft failure and can occur in certain types and from certain causes. However, the risk of rejection can be minimized by the process of genetic engineering and applying anti-rejection drugs in which scientists and researchers are developing so that the procedure becomes safer in the future. Although the patient who was considered as the first successful xenotransplantation in human case had died a few months after the surgery and the cause of death still remains unsolved, the field of xenotransplantation still keeps developing by researchers, medical universities, and biotechnology companies since they all agree that xenotransplantation will produce lots of advantages and will be a big step of the medical treatment field. Despite the fact that xenotransplantation is a procedure that is risky and raises public concerns and ethical issues, the procedure is still believed to give more benefits towards the patient and medical development since serious problems like organ shortage and high number of deaths on the waiting list will be solved.