The five female pigs were cloned from an adult sow named Destiny using a slightly different technique than the one that produced Dolly. Independent tests of the DNA of the piglets confirmed they were clones of the sow, the company said. The identical baby pigs playfully wrestled and nibbled on each other's ears inside a wooden pen at the news conference. Their mother was not present. PPL touted the clones as a major step toward achieving its xenograft objectives, which would create genetically altered pigs whose organs and cells could be successfully transplanted in humans.
Pigs are physiologically one of the closest animals to humans.
However, the next step is to see if the technology can be applied to developing genetically modified animals whose organs can be transplanted into humans without being rejected. The idea of using animal organs for transplant, known as xenotransplantation, is controversial because some believe illnesses could cross from pigs to humans. PPL scientists plan to try to eliminate a gene responsible for incorporating in pig cells a sugar group recognized by the human immune system as foreign. The gene triggers an immune response in the human body, prompting it to reject the organ. Other uses include cellular therapies such as transplantable cells that produce insulin for treatment of diabetes.