Chimeras originally come from Greek mythology. They were the monstrous creatures that were part dragon, part goat, part lion. Today, we have our own version of chimeras. They are scientifically created organisms that contain cells from two different species. Yes, it’s a real thing!
Researchers – made up of members of the Salk Institute in the United States and the Murcia Catholic University (UCAM) in Spain – led by Spanish scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte have created the first-ever human-monkey hybrid in a laboratory in China. Estrella Núñez, a project collaborator, told El Pais it is an important step towards using animals for human organ transplants.
The team genetically modified monkey embryos to deactivate genes that are essential to the formation of organs. Next, they injected human stem cells, which are capable of creating any type of tissue, into the embryos. The outcome of this work resulted in a monkey with human cells. Although, it was not born because the scientists stopped the process.
Not much more is known about the results of this study because the team is not providing many details. They are waiting to publish their findings in an internationally renowned scientific journal. However, Núñez said, “the results are very promising.”
Izpisúa Belmonte added:
From UCAM and the Salk Institute we are now trying not only to move forward and continue experimenting with human cells and rodent and pig cells, but also with non-human primates. Our country is a pioneer and a world leader in these investigations.
The monkey-human embryo isn’t the first chimera these scientists have made! Back in 2017 Izpisúa Belmonte’s team conducted the first experiment of human and pig chimeras in the world, but it didn’t work out well. “The human cells did not take hold. We saw that they contributed very little [to the development of the embryo]: one human cell for every 100,000 pig cells,” explained the Argentinean veterinarian Pablo Ross, a researcher from the University of California at Davis and a co-author of that experiment.
That same year, they also made chimeras between more similar species – the rat and the mouse. They are five times closer than humans and pigs so they figured it would work out better. They deactivated genes in mouse embryos that are fundamental to the development of the heart, eyes, and pancreas using the revolutionary genome-editing tool CRISPR. Then, they introduced rat stem cells that were capable of generating these organs. The outcome of this work resulted in a series of rat-mouse chimera embryos. These also were never born as gestation was also stopped in accordance with the international consensus regarding these types of experiments.
Experiments with chimeras face strong “ethical barriers”. Dr. Ángel Raya, the director of the Barcelona Regenerative Medicine Center, questions:
What happens if the stem cells escape and form human neurons in the brain of the animal? Would it have consciousness? And what happens if these stem cells turn into sperm cells?
In response to these concerns Núñez assures that Izpisúa Belmonte’s research team has created mechanisms “so that if human cells migrate to the brain, they will self-destruct. In no case is the gestation brought to full term.”
Núñez underlines that the Spanish ethical committees approved the experiment of human and pig chimeras in Murcia in 2017 but they could not perform the experiments in Spain because of strict laws. The vice-chancellor of the Catholic university explains:
We are doing the experiments with monkeys in China because, in principle, they cannot be done here because of lack of infrastructure. What we want is to make progress for the sake of people who have a disease.
Núñez added:
The ultimate goal would be to create a human organ that could be transplanted, but the path itself is almost more interesting for today’s scientists. I am essentially aware that I will not see it happen [the development of human organs in animals] but to arrive at that point, it’s necessary to pass through this one.
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