A 54-year-old New Jersey woman has received both a gene-edited pig kidney transplant and a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The patient had both heart failure and end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis. Due to having several chronic medical conditions, she was not considered a candidate for a heart and kidney transplant from a human donor.
Surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City implanted an LVAD on April 4, she then received a gene-edited pig kidney on April 12. This is the sixth pig kidney to be transplanted by the hospital. They previously performed five into brain-dead individuals, but this was the institution’s first attempt at transplanting into a living human.
Transplant Institute, led by Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, used a pig kidney genetically engineered to knock out the alpha-gal gene. The donor pig’s thymus gland was also surgically placed under the covering of the kidney to reduce the chance of rejection. This combination transplant is referred to as a UThymoKidney developed by the United Therapeutics Corporation.
According to the press release on the company’s website: “United Therapeutics’ xenothymokidney, known by the proposed trade name UThymoKidney, is an investigational-stage xenokidney from a pig with a single genetic edit, together with tissue from the same pig’s thymus. The use of the pig’s thymus tissue is intended to condition the recipient human’s immune system to recognize the UThymoKidney as “self” and reduce the likelihood of rejection.
United Therapeutics’ organ manufacturing efforts consist of four platforms – xenotransplantation, regenerative medicine, 3D organ bioprinting, and bio-artificial organs – encompassing four different organs – hearts, kidneys, livers, and lungs. These groundbreaking programs are intended to address the ongoing shortage of transplantable organs for patients with end stage organ disease.
To date, eleven xenotransplantation procedures using United Therapeutics’ UHearts, UThymoKidneys, and UKidneys have been performed in living and brain-dead human recipients: two living human recipients of UHearts, one living recipient of a UThymoKidney, six brain-dead UKidney and UThymoKidney recipients, and two brain-dead UHeart recipients. United Therapeutics has built on its history of innovation in xenotransplantation with strong research collaborations with top academic medical centers including NYU Langone Health, the University of Maryland Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
United Therapeutics is preparing for clinical trials of its xenokidney, xenothymokidney, and xenoheart products, following completion of ongoing preclinical studies required by the FDA.” The full press release can be found at this link: UThymoKidney
Dawn Levitt, Author 