Abstract:

BACKGROUND: With the constant deepening of the basic research and improving of clinical transplantation technology, organ transplantation has become the preferred treatment for end-stage organ disease. Recently, xenotransplantation has become a hotspot research because of a serious shortage of human donor. 
OBJECTIVE: To summarize research of xenotransplantation in the aspects of history, rejection, porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) infection and the solving approach.
METHODS: Databases of PubMed, SCI, Wangfang and CNKI were searched by the first author with key words of “xenotransplantation, Porcine, rejection and PERV” to search literatures concerning history, rejection, PERV infection and the solving approach of xenotransplantation. The language was limited for Chinese and English. 
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Most xenotransplantation studies have been done, which showed pig has unique condition as donor source of human organ-transplantation. However, xenotransplantation would appear more complex transplant rejection than homeotransplantation, and the potential threat of PERV infection to humans is indispensable. Selecting suitable porcine species (especially the miniature pig), modifying animals using genetic engineering technology, and developing new antiviral drug, improving detection means, as well as establishing models to research PERV, could drop the possibility of PERV transmission to the lowest. The mechanisms and possible solving methods have been in-depth understood, but the clinical application of xenotransplantation has a long way to go.