This study was performed to investigate the expression of two porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) elements, PERV gag and full-length conserved PERV, in blood cells collected periodically from organ-recipient monkeys that underwent pig to non-human primate xenotransplantation. The heart and kidney-respectively acquired from alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase knockout (GT-KO) pigs that survived for24 and 25 days-were xenografted into cynomolgus monkeys. The two PERV elements expressed in the xenografted GT-KO pig organs were not present in the blood cells of the recipient monkeys. In the present study, we deduced that PERVs are not transmitted during GT-KO pig to monkey xenotransplantation.
Blood Cells ; Endogenous Retroviruses* ; Haplorhini* ; Heart ; Heterografts ; Macaca fascicularis ; Primates ; Swine ; Transplantation, Heterologous*

Cynomolgus monkeys as nonhuman primates are valuable animal models because they have a high level of human gene homology. There are many reference values for hematology and biochemistry of Cynomolgus monkeys that are needed for proper clinical diagnosis and biomedical research conduct. The body weight information and blood type are also key success factors in allogeneic or xenogeneic models. Moreover, the biological parameters could be different according to the origin of the Cynomolgus monkey. However, there are limited references provided, especially of Cambodia origin. In this study, we measured average body weight of 2,518 Cynomolgus monkeys and analyzed hematology and serum biochemistry using 119 males, and determined blood types in 642 monkeys with Cambodia origin. The average body weight of male Cynomolgus monkeys were 2.56±0.345 kg and female group was 2.43±0.330 kg at the age from 2 to 3 years. The male group showed relatively sharp increased average body weight from the 3 to 4 age period compared to the female group. In hematology and biochemistry, it was found that most of the data was similar when compared to other references even though some results showed differences. The ABO blood type result showed that type A, B, AB, and O was approximately 15.6, 33.3, 44.2, and 6.9%, respectively. The main blood type in this facility was B and AB. These biological background references of Cambodia origin could be used to provide important information to researchers who are using them in their biomedical research.
Biochemistry* ; Body Weight ; Cambodia* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Haplorhini ; Hematology* ; Humans ; Macaca fascicularis* ; Male ; Models, Animal ; Primates ; Reference Values*