After operating the kidney of a genetically modified pig on a brain-dead human over a record two months, the American team of scientists who carried out the transplant announced on Thursday that it had put an end to the experience as planned.
“We have learned a lot over the last two months through detailed observations and analyzes and have good reason to be optimistic about the future,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the Institute for Transplantation, said in a statement from NYU Langone Hospital in New York, where the procedure was performed.
Such transplants of animal organs into humans, so-called xenografts, could offer a solution to the chronic shortage of kidney donations. More than 100,000 Americans are currently on the organ transplant waiting list, and nearly 88,000 are waiting for a kidney.
On July 14, a pig kidney was transplanted into a brain-dead man who donated his body to science. The pig was genetically modified so that the organ would not be immediately rejected by the human body.
While no signs of rejection were observed after a month, the scientists pointed out on Thursday that a mild rejection process was subsequently observed, requiring intensification of immunosuppressive treatments.
Additional results will be released in the coming months, according to the NYU Langone press release.
In recent years, this team has performed several xenotransplants, including the world’s first transplant of a pig kidney into a human in September 2021. But all attempts so far have been quite short.
The experiment conducted this summer lasted a total of 61 days, a record.
“To create an unlimited supply of organs, we need to learn how to perform organ transplants from pigs to humans,” reiterated Dr. Robert Montgomery on Thursday.
By testing them in deceased patients, we can optimize the immunosuppressive regimen and selection of gene alterations to make future studies safer.
Further trials of the deceased are planned.