As blood shortages emerge as a serious social issue globally, domestic researchers have developed mini pigs that produce blood for human transfusions.
Kim Seon-wook, head of the Future Animal Resources Center at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, noted on the 29th that researchers have developed a highly immunodeficient mini pig based on genome editing, marking the world's first achievement. This study was published online in the international journal Journal of Advanced Research on Apr. 23.
Initial artificial blood was developed using compounds with excellent oxygen-binding capabilities, such as hemoglobin proteins in blood, but the development goal has recently shifted toward using animal blood to enhance biocompatibility. In this respect, mini pigs are considered the optimal model.
Mini pigs are large to medium-sized laboratory animals, with significant blood volume and organ sizes and physiological characteristics similar to humans, making them the best-suited animal to regenerate human blood in vivo. By transplanting human hematopoietic stem cells, blood usable by humans can be obtained from mini pigs.
The issue is that when human hematopoietic stem cells are transplanted into mini pigs, immune rejection reactions occur. To solve this, researchers have created mini pigs in an immunocompromised state to prevent rejection when external cells, such as human cells, are transplanted.
Researchers produced a model in which the JAK3 gene of mini pigs was removed for the first time using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. Gene editing tools are enzyme complexes that cut specific genes. The JAK3 gene, which researchers cut using the gene-editing tool, primarily expresses tyrosine kinase enzymes found in immune cells such as white blood cells.
The gene-edited mini pigs exhibited a deficiency in immune cells such as T cells, B cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. Furthermore, unlike existing mini pig models, the number of monocytes, a type of white blood cell, were reduced, and the function of macrophages, which consume and eliminate damaged or dead cells, was also impaired, showing advanced immune deficiency characteristics.
Center head Kim Seon-wook said, "This research achievement will accelerate the development of artificial blood that can regenerate human blood in vivo in large to medium-sized laboratory animals," adding, "We are committed to establishing advanced infrastructure that can stably maintain, manage, and utilize immunodeficient mini pigs."
References
Journal of Advanced Research (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2025.04.036