The first pig kidney transplanted into a human body, what do scientists think?

Researchers transplanting pig organs into non-human primates have had great success: A baboon survived for more than two years with the help of a genetically modified pig hea.

Montgomery and his colleagues conducted transplant trials in September and November 2021 using pigs genetically engineered to lack a gene called alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase (αGa.

They tested these "thymic kidneys" on two people who had been declared legally dead a day or two before because they had no brain functi.

In a paper published May 19 in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers said patients did not have an immediate immune response to these orga.

genetic modification

However, other researchers are skeptical of the resul.

In addition, it was difficult to tell whether the pig's kidneys were at work, or whether the urine and creatinine actually came from the patient's own kidne.

Like Montgomery's team, Porrett's team had little immune response to the org.

ethical issues

Cooper was not surprised by the findings of the two research groups: Studies of baboon and human serum have shown that the primate immune system does not immediately reject alphaGal-deficient pig orga.

Montgomery and Porrett said extending the experiment may be medically feasible, as some patients survive for months after being declared brain de.

But doing so for research purposes raises ethical concerns because patients' remains should be handed over to their families as soon as possible, said Rebecca Pentz, a bioethicist at Emory University in Atlan.

However, Penz said the NYU study followed the rules set by the researchers' ethics committ.

heart transplant

Partly because of these limitations, Cooper and others believe it's time to start transplanting animal organs into living people -- and that's only partially successf.

The man died two months lat.

Porett noted that the infection has not been detected in live pigs, and it is unclear whether other latent animal viruses will begin to affect humans long after transplantati.

"We can't answer that question until we can follow patients for months or years," she sa.

Porett and Cooper's team is applying to the.


Food and Drug Administration for a small clinical trial of transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys into human patien.

The kidney is the ideal starting organ because, unlike the heart, if something goes wrong, the kidney can be removed and the patient can be put on dialysis, Cooper sa.

"It should be done with caution," he sa.