In a remarkable medical breakthrough, a genetically modified pig kidney has been successfully transplanted into a human patient. The pioneering procedure promises new hope for those awaiting organ transplants.
The patient, a 62-year-old man facing end-stage kidney failure, received the modified organ in an operation that marks a milestone in regenerative medicine. Richard Slayman, the recipient of the transplant, is recovering satisfactorily and the medical team anticipates his prompt recovery and discharge from hospital in the coming days.
This historic event represents an unprecedented advance in transplant medicine: for the first time, a kidney from a pig was successfully implanted into a human patient. This extraordinary feat sets a new standard in xenotransplantation, the revolutionary practice of transplanting organs from animal species to humans, opening the door to future life-saving innovations.
“The success of this transplant is the culmination of the efforts of thousands of scientists and doctors over several decades,” said Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital in a statement . “Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients around the world who suffer from kidney failure.”
Although the recent transplant of a pig kidney into a human patient is a milestone, it is not the first time such a procedure has been performed. Previously, the technique was applied on five occasions, involving patients in a state of brain death and on life support.
The most recent case, conducted in July 2023 by Dr. Robert Montgomery and his team at NYU Langone Health, recorded a functioning period of more than a month for the transplanted organ, with no signs of rejection or infectious complications.
On March 16, the medical team led by Kawai performed the groundbreaking four-hour surgery, in which a pig kidney was transplanted into a living human being. According to information from The New York Times , the transplanted organ immediately began to filter the blood, producing urine and eliminating creatinine, a metabolic residue.
The patient, Slayman, showed significant improvements, allowing dialysis treatment to be suspended, which signals the success and functionality of the new kidney.
The biopharmaceutical company eGenesis provided the innovative kidney, coming from pigs specially developed with genetic alterations. These animals have been modified to express specific human genes and eliminate certain porcine genes that could be harmful to humans.
Such genetic adjustments are strategic to minimize the chance of transplant rejection, a scenario where the patient’s immune system could attack the transplanted organ, compromising its function. The patient, Mr. Slayman, is on a regimen of immunosuppressive medications to further decrease the risk of rejection.
He is currently showing an encouraging recovery, is now able to walk on his own and, according to his doctors, the expectation is that he will soon be released from the hospital.
Mr. Slayman, who faces the adversities of type 2 diabetes, hypertension and kidney failure, had already benefited from a human kidney transplant in December 2018. Unfortunately, after about five years, the organ began to fail.
Since May 2023, he has undergone dialysis, a process marked by complications that required fortnightly hospital visits, seriously affecting his quality of life while awaiting a new transplant opportunity.
In the United States, more than 100,000 individuals anxiously await an organ transplant, and every day, 17 lives are lost waiting. Given the urgency and the absence of therapeutic alternatives, the US Food and Drug Administration granted authorization for Mr. Slayman to receive an experimental transplant, a gesture of hope in the midst of a critical situation.
“I saw this not only as a way to help myself, but also as a way to give hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” Slayman said in a statement.
To date, only two other patients have tried xenotransplantation, both receiving hearts from genetically modified pigs. The first case, involving a patient identified as David Bennett, ended tragically two months after the procedure, with complications arising from a swine virus known as porcine cytomegalovirus suspected to have been the cause.
In response to this, researchers performed genetic modifications to inactivate this and other potentially dangerous viruses in the pig that donated Slayman’s transplanted kidney.
The second patient, Lawrence Faucette, unfortunately died six weeks after the transplant, due to organ rejection.
