Polymerase chain reaction in detection of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) from porcine tissues.

Pigs offer an unlimited source of xenografts for humans. The use of transplants from animal origin offers a potential solution to the limited supply of human organs and tissues. However, like many other mammalian species, pigs harbor porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), which are encoded in their genomic DNA and are assumed to have been integrated into the porcine germline. The ability of PERV to infect human cells in vitro has heightened safety concerns regarding the transmission of PERV to pig xenograft recipients. Porcine tissues were analyzed using validated assays specifi c for PERV: polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (for PERV DNA) and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR (for PERV RNA). PERV-specifi c gag sequences were found in the porcine heart tissue samples using DNA-PCR and RT-PCR. PCR is a rapid and specifi c test for the detection of PERV from xenografts. These fi ndings have demonstrated that the presence of both DNA and RNA forms of PERV in porcine tissues needs to be carefully considered when the infectious disease potential of xenotransplantation is being assessed.