Experts back animal to human transplants

ABC News Online (Australia) Tue, Jul 9 2002 4:45 AM AEST

A national working group has recommended research on transplanting animal cells and organs into humans be allowed to go ahead in Australia.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) issues the draft guidelines on Monday, recommending the most stringent central regulations ever imposed on medical research.

Transplanting animal cells into humans is on trial overseas and genetic modifications may soon overcome humans' normal rejection of pig organs.

The NHMRC's Xenotransplantation Working Group believes the possible benefits of the technology outweigh the risks.

However, it recommends a centralised national committee be established to examine clinical research proposals before they are allowed to proceed.

Working group chairman Kerry Breen says the committee would require extensive information before approving clinical research.

"Produce evidence that it works in animals, produce evidence that as far as we know it is reasonable and safe and produce evidence that we have very good processes in place for monitoring the recipients and close contacts," he said.

The recommendations say the committee should only allow animal-to-human research where it is in "the common good".

Dr Breen says one of the major risks of animal-to-human transplants is they could allow viruses to cross over into humans.

He says that as a result, patients' consent is on behalf of all the people they come into contact with.

Dr Breen says the committee will be able to judge whether research is in the common good by weighing risks against the potential benefits for all those waiting for organ transplants.

Associate Professor Bernadette Tobin says the risk of virus crossover is why the working party wants xenotransplantation vetted by a national expert group.

"For any other area of medical research, only volunteers are participants but xenotransplantation raises the possibility that his or her close connections, family, and indeed the whole community may carry the burdens of the risks," she said.

The guidelines have been released for public discussion from Monday and could be approved later this year.

Concerns:

The prospect of transplanting animal organs into humans has raised concerns among some sections of the medical profession.

The director of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Canberra Hospital, Peter Collignon, says the risks are too great.

Dr Collignon says the danger of animal diseases spreading to humans should not be overlooked.

"If you think of a lot of the major infections we have in people - HIV, influenza, measles - all of those appear to have originally come over from animals adapted in humans then spread from people to people," Dr Collignon said.