A team of surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a living human for the first time. The 62-year-old patient is currently recovering well from the four-hour operation led by Tatsuya Kawai and Nahel Elias, reports the MGH.
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For the cross-species transplantation (xenotransplantation), a pig kidney genetically modified using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors from the biotech company eGenesis, with which the MGH says it has been working for five years, was used. In total, the company made a “record number of 69 genetic changes” to the miniature pig bred for organ harvesting in order to reduce the recipient’s immune response.
The genetic changes made by the company are intended, among other things, to reduce the risk of a viral infection in the recipient, according to a report published in Nature. In the past, two men who received pig hearts had died. In one case, scientists believe an infection of the heart was the cause of death, not the transplant itself.
Transplantation approved due to lack of alternatives
The patient was eligible because he had developed end-stage renal disease due to diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Nature article. A kidney received six years ago from a human donor had failed about a year ago. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) therefore approved the transplant as “compassionate use” due to the emergency situation – a special regulation for life-threatening cases without alternative treatment options.
Xenotransplantations with other pig organs
eGenesis says it is in discussions with the FDA to conduct clinical trials on pig kidneys, livers and hearts for pediatric use.
Others are also researching xenotransplantation with pig organs. A few days ago, Chinese researchers transplanted a pig’s liver into a brain-dead human and kept it functional for ten days, according to Nature; eGenesis managed to do this for two days in a similar experiment. The operation was performed at the Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University in Xi’an, China, to test the potential of genetically modified pig organs for future transplants.
As in the case described above, the pig liver was removed from a genetically modified mini-pig and connected to the blood vessels of the 50-year-old, clinically dead recipient. The Chinese researchers plan to use the procedure on another clinically dead patient soon.
(mack)
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