Porcine endogenous retrovirus does not infect human cells using a bioartificial liver model system

No evidence of in vitro and in vivo porcine endogenous retrovirus infection after plasmapheresis through the AMC‐bioartificial liver

“…Absence of PERV infectious virus in the human plasma at the end of BAL treatment was also confirmed by lack of transmission of productive PERV infection in susceptible human HEK‐293 cells. In addition our patients, treated by AMC‐BAL, showed neither productive nor latent PERV infection at any time of follow‐up to a maximum of 2 yr. Our data are in agreement with most other BAL systems [20–24], in which the porcine cells are separated from the plasma by porous membranes or matrix.…”

“…However, retrospective studies on patients exposed to living porcine tissue for periods exceeding several years do not report any transmission of PERV to the recipients [16–19]. Different BAL devices loaded with porcine liver cells were negatively tested for in vivo or in vitro transmission of PERV [20–24].…”

Evaluation of a bioartificial liver based on a nonwoven fabric bioreactor with porcine hepatocytes in pigs

“…Porcine hepatocytes are considered to be the best alternative to human hepatocytes for BAL because of anatomical and physiological similarities to human hepatocytes [48]. The major concern in the use of porcine hepatocytes is the risk of transfection of porcine endogenous retroviruses to the human population and severe immunological complications [53,54], despite that no direct evidence of such a transfection has been observed in in vivo studies [55,56].…”

No evidence of porcine endogenous retrovirus in patients with type 1 diabetes after long‐term porcine islet xenotransplantation

“…Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) is of particular interest because it is able to infect cultured cells of several species, including those of human origin [Patience et al, 1997;Wilson et al, 2000;Blusch et al, 2002]. However, several successful clinical treatments have been carried out with the use of porcine-origin products such as insulin, coagulation factors, extracorporeal liver or kidney support, bioartificial devices, and skin for the treatment of extensive burns [Heneine et al, 1998;Patience et al, 1998;Paradis et al, 1999;Falasca et al, 2001;Moza et al, 2001;Kuddus et al, 2002] and pig cells have also been used for clinical treatment of patients with metabolic disorders [Andersson et al, 1992;Groth et al, 1994;Tibell et al, 1994;Valdes-Gonzalez et al, 2005] without evidence of PERV infection. In the present study, the results are described of a long-term PERV surveillance of xenotransplanted type 1 diabetic patients with porcine islets and Sertoli cells who did not require immunosuppressive therapy.…”