The piglets, delivered by Caesarean section March 5 at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, were produced by a subsidiary of PPL Therapeutics of Edinburgh, Scotland, which nearly four years ago created Dolly, the world's first clone of an adult mammal. It has the potential to essentially revolutionize the transplantation field. 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. 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. Other uses include cellular therapies such as transplantable cells that produce insulin for treatment of diabetes. Despite the potential solution for organ shortages, the pig cloning drew criticism from animal rights activists. They live better than any other pigs.