Published online Aug 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i30.4727
Revised: July 20, 2004
Accepted: July 22, 2004
Published online: August 14, 2005
AIM: To determine the prevalence of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) in various pig breeds raised in China including Chinese experimental mini-pigs by PERV-reverse transcriptase (PERV-RT enzyme). Moreover, the potential for infection of PERV was investigated in patients treated with a bioreactor based on porcine liver cells (n = 3).
METHODS: Pig serum, liver and muscle cell-free supernatants were collected from various Chinese pig breeds. Porcine hepatocytes were isolated with a two-step perfusion method. Three patients with acute or chronic liver failure were treated with a bioartificial liver support system (BALSS) for 8-12 h and serum samples were collected from the patients before, immediately after and 30 d after treatment.
RESULTS: The activities of PERV-RT enzyme in pig liver and muscle cell-free supernatants were higher than in normal human controls. PERV-TR enzyme activity did not increase in patients before and after 1 mo of treatment. PERV-RT activities were not significantly different when compared with pre-treatment group (1.544 ± 0.155576), the post-treatment groups (1.501 ± 0.053507, 1.461 ± 0.033808 and 1.6006667 ± 0.01963 for 0, 14 and 30 d post-treatment, respectively, P > 0.05), and normal control group (1.440 ± 1.0641, P > 0.05). RT enzyme activity in Chinese experimental mini-pigs was higher than in normal human control group (1.440 ± 1.0641 U/mL, P < 0.05), and not significantly different (P > 0.05) when compared with the pig breeds except in the muscle supernatants. All the samples including muscle and liver cell supernatants from the Chinese mini-experimental pigs and the four domestic Chinese pig breeds contained PERVs.
CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the risk of PERV infection through BALSS containing porcine liver cells without immunosuppressants may be quite low. Although there were PERVs in Chinese experimental mini-pigs and porcine liver cell culture suspensions, we did not find any evidence of persistent PERV infection in patients treated with this porcine hepatocyte-based bioartificial liver.