Recent advances in interspecies chimeras and organogenesis

Abstract

Interspecies chimeras have served as a crucial tool for understanding the mechanisms of tissue regeneration and repair, offering promising potential to address the global organ shortage crisis. Through a technique known as interspecies blastocyst complementation, researchers can cultivate tissues and organs of one species within the body of another species. This approach involves injecting donor pluripotent stem cells into a host blastocyst that lacks critical developmental genes, allowing the donor cells to compensate for the missing organs or tissues in the host and thereby produce organs derived from the donor species. This review consolidates key findings from studies published in the past 2 years, highlighting advancements in techniques that enable the development of functional organs across species, as well as the remaining challenges.