TY - JOUR T1 - Transmission of Porcine Circovirus 3 (PCV3) by Xenotransplantation of Pig Hearts into Baboons AU - Krüger, Luise AU - Längin, Matthias AU - Reichart, Bruno AU - Fiebig, Uwe AU - Kristiansen, Yannick AU - Prinz, Carolin AU - Kessler, Barbara AU - Egerer, Stefanie AU - Wolf, Eckhard AU - Abicht, Jan-Michael AU - Denner, Joachim AB - Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) is a newly described member of the virus family Circoviridae. PCV3 is highly distributed among pigs and wild boars worldwide. A sudden introduction of PCV3 was recently observed in a herd of triple genetically modified pigs generated for xenotransplantation. These animals were used as donor pigs for orthotopic heart transplantation into baboons. In four cases, PCV3-positive hearts were transplanted, and transmission of PCV3 to the recipient was observed. PCV3 was found in all organs of the recipient baboons and a higher virus load was found in animals with a longer survival time of the transplant, indicating replication of the virus. This is the first report showing trans-species transmission of PCV3 to baboons by transplantation of a heart from a PCV3-positive donor pig. Sequence analysis showed that PCV3a and PCV3b were present in the infected pigs and were transmitted. Experiments to infect human 293 cells with PCV3 failed. KW - porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) KW - pigs KW - non-human primates KW - xenotransplantation KW - 610 Medizin und Gesundheit PY - 2019 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut JO - Viruses VL - 7 IS - 650 SP - 1 EP - 11 DO - 10.3390/v11070650 ER -