Gene editing advance re‐ignites debate on the merits and risks of animal to human transplantation

Fung, Ronald Kam Fai; Kerridge, Ian

doi:10.1111/imj.13183

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Third, genome editing in animals could provide a solution to the long-standing shortage of human organ donors by facilitating xenotransplantation from pigs into humans [ [26,39,51,64,66,68,73,74,76,77,130,135,140]. It was mentioned that this solution should be compared to alternative solutions to this problem in terms of resource allocation and prioritization [105].…”

Section: Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethics of genome editing in non-human animals: a systematic review of reasons reported in the academic literature

Graeff

Jongsma

Johnston

et al. 2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 17 to a discussion meeting issue 'The ecology and evolution of prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems'.In recent years, new genome editing technologies have emerged that can edit the genome of non-human animals with progressively increasing efficiency. Despite ongoing academic debate about the ethical implications of these technologies, no comprehensive overview of this debate exists. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a systematic review of the reasons reported in the academic literature for and against the development and use of genome editing technologies in animals. Most included articles were written by academics from the biomedical or animal sciences. The reported reasons related to seven themes: human health, efficiency, risks and uncertainty, animal welfare, animal dignity, environmental considerations and public acceptability. Our findings illuminate several key considerations about the academic debate, including a low disciplinary diversity in the contributing academics, a scarcity of systematic comparisons of potential consequences of using these technologies, an underrepresentation of animal interests, and a disjunction between the public and academic debate on this topic. As such, this article can be considered a call for a broad range of academics to get increasingly involved in the discussion about genome editing, to incorporate animal interests and systematic comparisons, and to further discuss the aims and methods of public involvement.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The ecology and evolution of prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems'.Data accessibility. This article has no additional data.

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Section: Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethics of genome editing in non-human animals: a systematic review of reasons reported in the academic literature

Graeff

Jongsma

Johnston

et al. 2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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show abstract

“…The second bioethical issue to be discussed could be the concerns about "animal dignity" (Eriksson et al, 2018) and alterations in their natural environments and physiological needs (Manesh et al, 2014). Some studies have stated that the use of animals as objects only serving for humans is not ethically or morally acceptable (Martinelli et al, 2014;Fung and Kerridge, 2016;Greenfield, 2017), and such practices can lead to greater control over humans on animals (Ishii, 2017a;de Graeff et al, 2019). Some others think that animals are not bound by any moral law and therefore there is no need for a discussion regarding animal dignity (Heeger, 2015;Shriver and McConnachie, 2018).…”

Section: Animal Welfare and Dignitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioethical issues in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology

Ayanoğlu¹,

Elçin²,

Elçin³

2020

Turk J Biol

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Biology and function of CRISPR-Cas9 technologyGenome editing technologies often work by creating fractures in chromosomal DNA. ZFN, TALEN, and CRISPR-Cas9 are all based solely on nucleases (Kim and Kim, 2014;Roh et al., 2018). The strength of these technologies stems from the ability to create fractures in the desired region of a specific target sequence as determined by the researcher. This allows researchers to modify the genome in practice in any region (Memi et al., 2018).The creation of changes in the genome depends mainly on the DNA repair capacity of the cells (Lau et al., 2018). All cells have two basic mechanisms for the repair of doubleAbstract: Genome editing technologies have led to fundamental changes in genetic science. Among them, CRISPR-Cas9 technology particularly stands out due to its advantages such as easy handling, high accuracy, and low cost. It has made a quick introduction in fields related to humans, animals, and the environment, while raising difficult questions, applications, concerns, and bioethical issues to be discussed. Most concerns stem from the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to genetically alter human germline cells and embryos (called germline genome editing). Germline genome editing leads to serial bioethical issues, such as the occurrence of undesirable changes in the genome, from whom and how informed consent is obtained, and the breeding of the human species (eugenics). However, the bioethical issues that CRISPR-Cas9 technology could cause in the environment, agriculture and livestock should also not be forgotten. In order for CRISPR-Cas9 to be used safely in all areas and to solve potential issues, worldwide legislation should be prepared, taking into account the opinions of both life and social scientists, policy makers, and all other stakeholders of the sectors, and CRISPR-Cas9 applications should be implemented according to such legislations. However, these controls should not restrict scientific freedom. Here, various applications of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, especially in medicine and agriculture, are described and ethical issues related to genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 technology are discussed. The social and bioethical concerns in relation to human beings, other organisms, and the environment are addressed.

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“…8 In addition, the risk of the transmission of zoonotic pathogens from pigs to humans also poses a potential threat to public health. [69][70][71] Recent advances in CRISPR/Cas9 hold great promise for overcoming these barriers by decreasing the xenogenicity of porcine organs and increasing their physiological compatibility with humans. 67,72 The CRISPR/Cas family was identified as an RNA-guided defense system protecting bacteria and archaea from invading viruses and plasmids; of the members of the CRISPR/Cas family, CRISPR/Cas9 has been the most widely studied due to its simple structure and high degree of specificity.…”

Section: Crispr/cas9 Technology Crispr/cas9 (Clustered Regularly Intementioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging approaches and technologies in transplantation: the potential game changers

Dangi

Luo

2019

Cell Mol Immunol

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Newly emerging technologies are rapidly changing conventional approaches to organ transplantation. In the modern era, the key challenges to transplantation include (1) how to best individualize and possibly eliminate the need for lifelong immunosuppression and (2) how to expand the donor pool suitable for human transplantation. This article aims to provide readers with an updated review of three new technologies that address these challenges. First, single-cell RNA sequencing technology is rapidly evolving and has recently been employed in settings related to transplantation. The new sequencing data indicate an unprecedented cellular heterogeneity within organ transplants, as well as exciting new molecular signatures involved in alloimmune responses. Second, sophisticated nanotechnology platforms provide a means of therapeutically delivering immune modulating reagents to promote transplant tolerance. Tolerogenic nanoparticles with regulatory molecules and donor antigens are capable of targeting host immune responses with tremendous precision, which, in some cases, results in donor-specific tolerance. Third, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology has the potential to precisely remove immunogenic molecules while inserting desirable regulatory molecules. This technology is particularly useful in generating genetically modified pigs for xenotransplantation to solve the issue of the shortage of human organs. Collectively, these new technologies are positioning the transplant community for major breakthroughs that will significantly advance transplant medicine.

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Gene editing advance re‐ignites debate on the merits and risks of animal to human transplantation

Cited by 9 publications

References 25 publications

The ethics of genome editing in non-human animals: a systematic review of reasons reported in the academic literature

The ethics of genome editing in non-human animals: a systematic review of reasons reported in the academic literature

Bioethical issues in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology

Emerging approaches and technologies in transplantation: the potential game changers

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