Day: September 29, 2003

Woman's Diseased Heart Rebuilt Using Human and Cow Tissue

A 46-year-old woman suffering from a rare hereditary disorder successfully had her heart removed and parts of it rebuilt using tissue from cows.

Sandra Lanier of Ware, Mass., is one of only about 400 people known worldwide to suffer from “Carney Complex” — a hereditary disorder that causes recurring non-cancerous tumors. In Lanier’s case, it caused tumors to repeatedly grow in her left atrium, and she had endured three open heart surgeries before her most recent operation.

Dr. James Gammie and Dr. Bartley Griffith of the University of Maryland Medical Center removed her heart as part of a 12-hour operation and rebuilt the left and right atrium with human and cow tissue. According to the Associated Press,

During the operation, Gammie took out the remaining atrial tissue and used cow tissue to replace the back portion of the atria and line up the pulmonary veins so they could be reattached to the heart.

Meanwhile, Griffith rebuilt Lanier’s atria with a combination of animal and human tissue. Griffith said the animal and human tissue knitted together nicely with the remaining half of her own heart.

Griffith performed a similar surgery in 2000.

Source:

Surgeons use animal and human tissue on woman’s heart to remove tumor. Brian White, Associated Press, August 29, 2003.

Chinese Researchers Claim Human/Rabbit Hybrid

Chinese researchers claimed in August to have created the first human/rabbit hybrid embryo.

The researcher was carried out at Shanghai Second Medical University and details about the research was published in Cell Research, a bimonthly peer reviewed journal of the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology.

The researchers claim they fused skin cells from a number of human source with rabbit cells that had most of their rabbit DNA removed. According to the researchers, 400 of the hybrids grew into early embryos and more than 100 survived to become blastocysts.

There are many good reasons, however, to be skeptical that the researchers actually managed to create hybrid embryos.

According to a United Press International story, the report on this research had been submitted and rejected by several more reputable journals over the past two years. The study has been rejected for publication because both the draft and the version published in Cell Research omit data that would make it possible to confirm that the researchers actually resulted in embryonic cells.

And, as UPI tactfully puts it, “researchers in China have gained a reputation for making bold claims about cloning and stem cells that, all too often, prove false.”

Sources:

Scientists Doubt Chinese Claim of Rabbit-Human Clone. United Press International, August 15, 2003.

Cloning yields human-rabbit hybrid embryo. Rick Weiss, Washington Post, August 14, 2003.