The world's first six-gene edited pig-monkey multi-organ and multi-tissue combined transplantation

For xenograft technology to enter clinical application on a large scale, it will take longer and more careful observation and exploration
.
As an emerging science and technology, xenotransplantation is an effective means and model for human beings to explore the mysteries of life sciences, especially if this technology can be completely broken, it will open a new era of human immunity, and in the long run, it is conducive to scientific development and human progress
.

On October 25, Xijing Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University announced that led by Professor Dou Kefeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 20 disciplines including hepatobiliary surgery, urology, cardiovascular surgery and other disciplines, the world's first six-gene edited pig-monkey multi-organ and multi-tissue joint transplantation was successful, achieving a breakthrough
in the international xenotransplantation field of multi-organ and multi-tissue transplantation.

The transplant took place on October 16 and took 14 hours to complete
.
The research team obtained three organs of liver, heart and kidney, as well as three tissues of cornea, skin and bone, as well as cornea, skin and bone of a gene-edited pig, and performed liver and kidney transplantation, heart transplantation, corneal and skin grafting and bone transplantation
in four recipient monkeys at the same time.

At present, the international research on xenotransplantation of heterogeneous tissues and organs with gene-edited pigs as donors is mostly a single tissue or organ transplantation, and the practice of obtaining a variety of different tissues and organs from the same donor pig and carrying out simultaneous joint transplantation of heterogeneous multi-organ and multi-tissue is the first in
the world.
The success of the operation further expanded and confirmed the possible scope of application of xenograft in the future, and provided scientific data and technical reserves
for solving the shortage of donors and treating patients with organ failure.

Xenotransplantation refers to the transplantation of tissue from one species into another species for hundreds of years
.
As early as the 17th century, there were attempts in Western Europe to use the kidneys of sheep to save uremia patients
.
In 2022, the United States had the world's first heart patient
who received a pig heart transplant.

It is reported that in 2020, the average number of new organ failure patients in China is about 300,000 per year, and less than 20,000 people can obtain organ transplants
.
As of 2021, the global xenograft industry market size reached $6.
4 billion, with a compound growth rate of 30.
2%
from 2018 to 2021.

However, the issues of immune rejection and social ethics caused by xenograft have also aroused the attention and discussion
of all walks of life.
Recently, The Paper contacted Professor Zhu Tongyu, Deputy Dean of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University and Director of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, to interpret
the relevant issues of xenotransplantation technology.

Zhu Tongyu believes that the biggest challenge in the development of xenograft technology lies in how to solve immune rejection and viral infection
.
On the one hand, there is the problem of immune rejection, the remodeling of the human immune system caused by the long-term survival of foreign xenograft antigens in the body, and the remodeling of the lymphatic system caused by the breakthrough of some lymphocytes will be MHC (major histocompatibility complex), which may cause immune rejection different from allogeneic transplantation; On the other hand, endogenous viral genes in pigs do not cause pigs to get sick, but in humans, they are very likely to be released and cause infection problems
with unknown viruses.

Zhu Tongyu said, "For xenograft technology to enter clinical application on a large scale, it needs longer and more careful observation and exploration
.
As an emerging science and technology, xenotransplantation is an effective means and model for human beings to explore the mysteries of life sciences, especially if this technology can be completely broken, it will open a new era of human immunity, and in the long run, it is conducive to scientific development and human progress
.
”