Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, doesn’t just raise pigs to be eaten. The company announced lately that it plans to explore the possibility of using its hogs for medical purposes, including growing tissue and organs that can be transplanted into humans.

There hasn’t yet been a successful transplant of a pig organ into a human, but recent scientific breakthroughs and advanced technology such as gene-editing tools are making the possibility more likely.

To use pig parts — like hearts or lungs — for human transplants, scientists have to edit certain genes to make the organs viable.

Courtney Stanton, VP of Smithfield Bioscience, tells Business Insider that the company hopes to use certain pig parts that usually go to waste, like hearts, to develop organs for humans.

In April, Smithfield joined a public-private tissue-engineering consortium, which is funded by an US$80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. Smithfield has also launched a separate unit, Smithfield Bioscience, to oversee its medical ventures.

Smithfield slaughters approximately 16 million pigs every year, and hopes to start selling pig parts directly to researchers and healthcare companies that conduct research on pig-human transplants.

Stanton says the company plans to look into ways that all types of major organs and skin could be used for transplants.

“There are striking similarities between pigs and humans: for example, our DNA and digestive tract,” she says.

The largest hurdle for pig-human organ transplants is the fact that pigs have genes encoded with viruses that could transmit diseases to humans.

A second challenge is immunology — if doctors were to introduce a pig organ to the human body, the immune system might reject the organ and attack it.

Smithfield already gathers and sells pig parts, like pancreases and thyroid glands, for a variety of medical purposes.

Most of the pork materials Smithfield sells are used to make ingredients in drugs that treat conditions like indigestion and hypothyroidism.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【屠宰】túzǎi slaughter the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food

【免疫学】miǎnyì xué immunology a branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms

作为全球最大的猪肉生产商，史密斯菲尔德食品公司养猪可不仅仅是为了做成食

品。该公司日前宣布计划探索在医疗领域利用猪的可能性，如利用猪生长可以移植到人体中的组织和器官。

虽然目前尚未出现成功将猪器官移植到人身上的案例，但最近的科学突破和基因编辑工具等先进技术的出现，正在提高这一设想成功的可能性。

为了使猪的器官（如心脏或肺）能够用于人体移植，科学家必须编辑某些基因。

史密斯菲尔德生物科技公司副总裁考特尼•斯坦顿告诉《商业内幕》网站，说其公司希望使用那些通常只能白白浪费的猪器官（如心脏）来开发移植人体的器官。

4月，史密斯菲尔德公司加入了一个公私合营器官工程学联合会，该联合会得到美国国防部8000万美元的资助。公司还成立了一个单独的子公司 — 史密斯菲尔德生物科学公司，来监督其医疗事业的发展。

史密斯菲尔德公司每年屠杀约1600万头猪，并希望能够直接将猪的器官出售给研究人员和医疗保健公司，用于研究猪器官的人类移植。斯坦顿说，公司计划探索让所有类型的主要器官和皮肤都可用于移植的方法。

她还表示：“猪和人之间有着明显的相似之处：如DNA和消化道。”

将猪器官移植到人体内的最大障碍在于猪含有病毒编码基因，可能会将疾病传染给人类。

第二个挑战是免疫反应，如果医生要将猪器官移植到人体内，人类的免疫系统可能会排斥攻击移植器官。

史密斯菲尔德公司已经开始收集销售猪的器官（如胰腺和甲状腺），用于各种医疗用途。

该公司销售的大多数猪原料都用于制造治疗消化不良和甲状腺功能减退等疾病的药物。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)