ABSTRACT
Acellular materials of xenogenic origin are used worldwide as xenografts, and phase I trials of viable pig pancreatic islets are currently being performed. However, limited information is available on transmission of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) after xenotransplantation and on the long-term immune response of recipients to xenoantigens. We analyzed the blood of burn patients who had received living pig-skin dressings for up to 8 wk for the presence of PERV as well as for the level and nature of their long term (maximum, 34 y) immune response against pig Ags. Although no evidence of PERV genomic material or anti-PERV Ab response was found, we observed a moderate increase in anti-αGal Abs and a high and sustained anti-non-αGal IgG response in those patients. Abs against the nonhuman sialic acid Neu5Gc constituted the anti-non-αGal response with the recognition pattern on a sialoglycan array differing from that of burn patients treated without pig skin. These data suggest that anti-Neu5Gc Abs represent a barrier for long-term acceptance of porcine xenografts. Because anti-Neu5Gc Abs can promote chronic inflammation, the long-term safety of living and acellular pig tissue implants in recipients warrants further evaluation.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Heterophile/immunology , Burns/surgery , Sialic Acids/immunology , Skin Transplantation/adverse effects , Transplantation, Heterologous/adverse effects , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Animals , Antigens, Heterophile/analysis , Child , Endogenous Retroviruses/immunology , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin G , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , RNA, Viral/analysis , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Skin Transplantation/methods , SwineABSTRACT
Prognostics in idiopathic scoliosis is aimed at finding rules for predicting the progression of the curve. The authors report certain prognostic methods as well as the result of the latest Japanese method applied to our own group of patients. The calculated prediction was true in 50 % of the cases. Therefore, the tested Yamauchi's prognostic system proves to be reliable only to a small extent.
Subject(s)
Scoliosis/classification , Adolescent , Child , Disease Progression , Female , Humans , Prognosis , Radiography , Scoliosis/diagnostic imaging , Scoliosis/pathology , Spine/diagnostic imaging , Spine/pathologyABSTRACT
Three groups of patients were selected for this retrospective study. Each group underwent treatment with spinal bracing. The aim was to identify the correction of curves during several stages of treatment. Results were statistically processed. The best initial correction was shown in Cheneau hypercorrective brace. However, at the end effect the statistical significant difference between the braces was not proved.
