What are xenografts?

Xenografts are tissues or organs derived from species other than the recipient of the specimen. Besides being powerful research tools in oncology, they are also essential for treating wounds in clinics. In the screening and evaluation of new anticancer agents, xenograft models of human cancer play an important role. Human tumor cell lines are currently used to study the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of ectopic xenografts and orthotopic xenografts derived from human tumor cell lines. Let’s look at different types of xenografts in this article. 

A xenograft is a surgical procedure in which tissue or organs from one species are transplanted into another species. In medicine, xenografts are used to replace damaged tissue or organs with healthy tissue or organs from another individual of the same or a different species. Xenografts are also used in research to study the effects of foreign substances on the body.

There are two types of xenografts: autografts and allografts. Autografts involve transplanting tissue or organs from one individual to another within the same species. Allografts involve transplanting tissue or organs from one individual to another of a different species. Xenografts are typically performed by transplanting tissue or organs from a donor into a recipient. The donor tissue or organs are usually obtained from a deceased individual. However, in some cases, the donor tissue or organs may be obtained from a living individual. The recipient’s immune system may reject the donor tissue or organs. To reduce the risk of rejection, the recipient may be treated with immunosuppressive drugs.

The types of xenografts:

 Xenografts are defined as the transplantation of tissue from one donor to a completely different species (animal to human). The most common harvest source of xenograft is the small intestine and dermis of the porcine, pericardium, fetal, and dermis of a bovine and equine.

Allograft is the transplantation of the tissue when the donor and the host are from the same species (human to human). Allografts are used in numerous procedures to save lives, repair limbs, relieve pain, or improve a patient’s quality of life when there is not enough of your own tissue that can be used in an operation. Synthetic (man-made) materials have different properties from human tissue and may not be right for some patients or purposes. The most common uses of allografts are:

• Bone, tendons, and ligaments can be used in orthopedics, neurosurgery, dental surgery, and plastic surgery
• Heart valves and blood vessels are used in heart surgery
• Skin can be used to treat severe burns or used in abdominal surgery.
• Corneas can restore vision to a person whose cornea has been damaged or has failed

In autograft, the recipient is considered the source in which case a tissue is transplanted from one part of the body to another. An example is ligament repair, in which case the most common harvest sites are the patellar tendon, hamstring tendon, and quadriceps tendon of the patient.