Cloned Pig to transform psoriasis research

[jiml]

LEO Pharma and Aarhus University have cloned the world’s first transgenic mini pig with a predisposition for psoriasis. The unique animal is expected to transform dermatological research and pave the way for safer and more effective skin treatments in the future.

Born in July, the pig was created using a new ‘handmade cloning’ technique pioneered in Denmark at Foulum Research Centre. The breakthrough offers new opportunities in the future for studying not only psoriasis, but also an array of skin diseases, from child eczema to skin cancer.

The successful result - part of a €6.4m project called Pigs and Health co-financed by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation ¬- will be presented in an all-day seminar at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council on 21 November in Copenhagen.

“This is an exciting breakthrough - not only for future psoriasis treatment, but also for the entire field of dermatological research,” says Thomas Kongstad Petersen, Director of Preclinical Development at LEO Pharma.

“Now we have the potential to test new drugs and therapies for a multitude of skin conditions, from eczema to skin cancer. We strongly believe that this animal will play a significant role in our future drug research and help us radically improve treatment for people with skin diseases.”

Cutting-edge cloning
The research also represents a globally significant advance in cloning, according to the research team at Aarhus University.

“The result is extremely promising. With this new discovery, we have established the genetic fundamentals for generating transgenic pig models of human skin disease”, says Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen, Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University.

Thanks to the recent Danish progress in pig transgenesis – where this result is one of a series of breakthroughs - Denmark is now a global front runner in the production of cloned transgenic mini pigs by somatic cell nuclear transfer.

‘Handmade cloning’ involves removing an egg’s genetic material and replacing it with a genetically engineered somatic cell nucleus from a donor pig. The resulting egg is then transferred to a surrogate pig’s womb. To create the transgenic mini pigs with a predisposition for skin disease, the ‘handmade’ eggs were modified to carry two human genes. The next step is to standardise the animal model, which is expected to take up to two years.

Also involved in the Pigs and Health project are PixieGene, Danish Agriculture and Food Council, Pig Research Centre, University of Copenhagen, Technical University of Denmark and Ellegaard Göttingen Mini-pigs. The project aims to produce pigs that are sensitive to human disease for use in medical research.

Transgenetic means to have genetic material, or DNA, from another species.
A mini pig is raised under standardised conditions. For practical reasons, a mini pig therefore often used in scientific research and development of medicine.
‘Handmade cloning’ involves removing an egg’s genetic material and replacing it with a genetically engineered somatic cell nucleus from a donor pig. The resulting egg is then transferred to a surrogate pig’s womb.
Pigs are similar to humans in terms of physiology and anatomy, making them more suited for drug testing than mice or rats.
A somatic cell is a body cell i.e. from skin.

Source: leo-pharma.com

So it's not true all the Danish pigs end up as bacon, are there any updates on this research?