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There have been tests on this subject as a means of solving the worldwide organ donor shortage. Antigens on the human organ will be detected by the monkey's immune system and cause its body to reject the foreign organ. There is, however, research being done on pigs--scientists have discovered that altering the genes of pigs so that the antigens match those of humans will result in organ acceptance upon transplant. However, the scientists cannot test this theory (although 2 cases have been shown to work briefly) because of laws in human testing; for now they are transplanting pig organs to monkeys to test their effectiveness, which is not a good method as monkey antigens are not the same as human antigens. Source and more info: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/organfarm/etc/faqs.html

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13y ago

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