The next pig breakthrough?

A New Zealand company is using a Southland centre for genetic research into creating safe kidney transplants using pig organs.

A medical research company has taken over a pig facility in Awarua so it can breed Auckland Island pigs suitable for human transplants.

NZeno is founded by scientists Dr Paul Tan, Dr Olga Garkavenko and Professor Bob Elliot.

The same scientists were involved with Living Cell Technologies, which had used Auckland Island pigs in Southland for pig cell transplantation for the treatment of diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

NZeno is researching the ability to transplant pig kidneys into humans with endstage renal disease or kidney failure. It is using new technology to analyse and locate specific genes for modification.

Pig kidneys are similar to human kidneys but are rejected by the human immune system when transplanted.

NZeno says it wants to use gene editing to inactivate the pig genes that are responsible for the immune rejection of transplanted organs.

Pacific Channel associate Lachlan Nixon, one of NZeno’s largest investors said the company’s gene research was well developed.

‘‘The researchers use CRISPR/CAS9 to inactivate the specific genes that the human body usually rejects,’’ Nixon said.

More research into this was important because demand for kidneys outweighed the current human-donated supply, he said.

‘‘At least 3 million people worldwide currently depend on a dialysis machine to remain alive.’’

The new technology called CRISPR/CAS9 was developed and refined since its conception in the early 90s.

The ability to edit genomes didn’t happen until 2013.

Southland has a history with the Auckland Island Pigs after they were set to be culled by the Department of Conservation.

Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt used his mayoral fund and 17 pigs were transported to Invercargill in 1999 by the Rare Breeds Conservation Society, and Invercargill ratepayers funded the quarantine before anyone knew about the pigs’ scientific worth.

The pigs are valuable for research because they are regarded as free of common infections and do not secrete pig endogenous viruses. They are the only pigs that have been approved for use as a source of tissue for transplantation into humans in clinical trials.

Shadbolt has been an advocate for the pigs and their importance since they were first rescued from the island and transported to mainland New Zealand in 1999.

When Living Cell Technologies Ltd ended its research and closed the Awarua facility the pigs were returned to the Southland Heirloom Breeds Charitable Trust in Invercargill.

The trust confirmed it had leased 16 Auckland Island pigs to NZeno for its research.

A spokesman for the trust said the pigs were not the original pigs brought from the Auckland Islands, but were of the same lineage and had been bred specifically.

NZeno has written to Shadbolt outlining its plans and also asking to find investors to fill a $600,000 gap.