Heart valves from pigs and the porcine endogenous retrovirus: Experimental and clinical data to assess the probability of porcine endogenous retrovirus infection in human subjects

Objective: Replacement of heart valves in human subjects has become a routine procedure in cardiac operations. We sought to investigate whether commercially available glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine heart valve prostheses cause porcine endogenous retrovirus infection in human subjects because recent st...

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Published inThe Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery Vol. 121; no. 4; pp. 697 - 701
Main Authors Moza, A.K., Mertsching, H., Herden, T., Bader, A., Haverich, A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia, PA Elsevier Inc 01.04.2001
AATS/WTSA
Elsevier
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ISSN0022-5223
1097-685X
DOI10.1067/mtc.2001.112530

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Summary:Objective: Replacement of heart valves in human subjects has become a routine procedure in cardiac operations. We sought to investigate whether commercially available glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine heart valve prostheses cause porcine endogenous retrovirus infection in human subjects because recent studies revealed that human cells can be infected with porcine endogenous retrovirus. Methods: Blood samples of 18 patients who underwent aortic or mitral valve replacement with porcine heart valves were collected 6 months to 3 years after operation and tested for porcine endogenous retrovirus by means of polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction. In addition, we tried to trace porcine endogenous retrovirus in 3 commercially available, glutaraldehyde-fixed, porcine heart valves. Results: Porcine endogenous retrovirus can be easily detected in native porcine heart valves and degrades completely within 1 week of fixation in glutaraldehyde. In all 3 commercially available porcine heart valves, no traces of porcine endogenous retrovirus were found. All blood samples showed negative test results for the porcine endogenous retrovirus genome. Conclusion: Our results indicate that glutaraldehyde fixation of porcine heart valves reliably prevents cross-species transmission of porcine endogenous retrovirus. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2001;121:697-701)
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ISSN:0022-5223
1097-685X
DOI:10.1067/mtc.2001.112530