A pig-to-human xenotransplant resulted in successful kidney function in a deceased human with chronic kidney disease, possibly offering a future solution to the organ shortage crisis. The subject, a brain-dead 52-year-old man, was transplanted with crossmatch-compatible pig kidneys with ten genetic modifications at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine.
Other hospitals are also trying to solve the organ shortage crisis through xenotransplantation. The NYU Langone Transplant Institute in New York City conducted the fifth xenotransplant procedure at their institution, in which a genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted into a 57-year-old brain-dead man on ventilator support. Currently, the kidney is still functioning without rejection after 32 days post-transplant. This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human. The team plans to observe kidney functioning through mid-September. The results have not yet been published in a journal.
Read full article here: Pig-Kidney Xenotransplants Prove Successful in Two Brain-Dead Men
Kidneys are not the only organs under consideration for xenotransplantation. A pig-to-human heart transplant made the news in early 2022. A recent interview with a scientist from the University of New Hampshire gives insight into the future of pig heart transplants.
Full article available here: Ghost Hearts
Below is an excerpt of the article.
Doris Taylor is a scientist working in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Her work has focused on creating personalized functioning human hearts in a lab that could rule out the need for donors. Taylor has dubbed these hearts “ghost hearts.”
The ghost heart is a heart whose cells have been removed. All that remains is the heart framework, or scaffolding. It’s called a ghost heart because removing the cells causes the heart to turn from red to white. A human heart wouldn’t work as a scaffold because so few are available to work with.
So, my team and I went with the next best thing: a pig heart. Pig hearts are similar to human hearts in terms of their size and structure. Both have four chambers – two atria and two ventricles – responsible for pumping blood. And structures from pig hearts such as valves have been used in humans safely.To remove the cells, the pig heart is gently washed through its blood vessels with a mild detergent to remove the cells. This process is called perfusion decellurization. The cell-free heart can then be seeded with new cells – in this case, a patient’s cells – thus forming a personalized heart.
In another bit of news, doctors discuss unexpected rhythm changes in pig hearts transplanted into human recipients. This will be another obstacle to overcome if xenotransplantation is to move forward. Full article.
Excerpt:
Heart rhythm measures in the electrocardiograms of the first pig-to-human heart transplant found unexpected differences in the electrical conduction system of the genetically modified pig heart compared to an unmodified pig heart, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2022. The meeting, held in person in Chicago and virtually, Nov. 5-7, 2022, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science.
Xenotransplantation — the process of implanting an organ from one animal species to another — took a leap forward in January 2022, when a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease received the first-ever transplant of a genetically modified pig heart. The patient lived for 61 days.
Researchers have been working on this new pig-to-human transplantation technique for over 30 years. If successful, harvesting hearts from genetically modified pigs, whose genes have been altered so that they can be safely transplanted to humans, may one day be a reality.
Although xenotransplantation may one day solve the organ shortage, there is a long way to go before it becomes a reality. But someday, the organ transplant waiting list may become a thing of the past, and patients in need of transplant could schedule their surgery just like they would schedule a knee replacement today.
Dawn Levitt, Author 