Lifeline For Millions: US Doctors Conduct First Pig-To-Human Kidney Transplant

Washington: A 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease underwent the world’s first pig-to-human kidney transplant recently in the United States’ Massachusetts General Hospital, raising hopes among kidney patients on the lookout for a donor.

Rick Slayman, the patient, is doing well as of now post the four-hour surgery.

The procedure was performed under a special US regulator authorisation granted to patients with serious illnesses to access an experimental treatment.

According to sources, the kidney was from a genetically modified pig carrying 69 genomic edits. The genetic editing was done using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans, the hospital told media.

“The success of this transplant is the culmination of efforts by thousands of scientists and physicians over several decades. We are privileged to have played a significant role in this milestone,” Tatsuo Kawai, the surgeon who performed the transplant and the Chair of Transplant Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, told euronews.com.

“Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from kidney failure,” he added.

After being on dialysis for seven years, Slayman had received a kidney transplant from a human donor in 2018. But five years later, he had complications and was back on dialysis.

“The pig kidney transplant was not only a way to help me but also a way to provide hope for thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” the 62-year-old patient said.

As demand for human organs is higher than the number available for transplantation, pig-to-human transplantation is being considered a significant achievement by the medical fraternity. However, it also comes with risks as it involves transferring an unknown pathogen from animal to human which can trigger a serious immune response.

The two men who previously received successful pig heart transplants in the US died after receiving the transplant.

Earlier, surgeons also transplanted several gene-edited pig kidneys into brain-dead human patients to evaluate and hone the procedure. This year, a gene-edited pig liver was also transplanted in China.

However, the transplant team at Massachusetts General Hospital believes that the pig kidney will work for at least two years. If it fails, the patient could go back on dialysis.

“Slayman, unlike the pig heart recipients, who were very sick, is actually quite robust,” nephrologist Dr Winfred Williams told Associated Press.