| Description |
Applying transplants from pigs is a promising strategy to alleviate human organs shortage for transplantation. Although liver allotransplantation has been applied clinically for decades, successful long-term survival after liver xenotransplantation is hindered by immune rejection and coagulation disorders. To delineate the key differences between liver allo- and xeno-transplantation, we profiled the transcriptome of pre- and post-operative samples by high-throughput sequencing. Through unsupervised weighted gene co-expression network analysis, time-course analysis, and immune cell subpopulation analysis, the contrast/distinctions in gene expression profile and immune cell fractions between allo- and xeno-recipients were identified. After reperfusion, allotransplanted recipients showed activated adaptive immune response and repressed innate immune response whereas xenotransplanted recipients exhibited reverse pattern. Additionly, the expression of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) were confirmed in independent samples of xenotransplantation in different ways, highlighting the risk of PERV transmission to primate. Collectively, our research firstly investigates transcriptome alterations of immune system in recipients receiving liver allo- and xeno-transplantation, and unravels the specificity of xenogeneic reaction and the risk of PERV interspecies transmission. |
