A pig’s kidney has been successfully transplanted to a human. A multidisciplinary team made it happen using a gene editing tool.
In China, a new milestone has been achieved with the first successful pig kidney transplant to a human. The recipient is a 62-year-old man named Richard Slayman with end-stage kidney failure.
The surgery took place on March 16 and it lasted for four hours. Slayman is in recovery according to his transplant surgeon.
How Did They Do It?
It wasn’t a walk in a park because conditions must be met to raise the success rate. Thanks to CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing, a group of scientists was able to make the necessary “trims.”
Sixty-nine of the pig’s genes were modified, with three removed to eliminate three sugars on the surface of the pig’s cells. If they weren’t removed, the human immune system would attack those cells, treating them as foreign invaders and cause an organ rejection.
Then, seven human genes were introduced to produce proteins to help prevent organ rejection. And finally, 59 genetic tweaks were applied to inactivate viruses embedded within the pig genome.
What’s Next
Researchers are hoping for larger clinical trials involving pig organs. The FDA agrees with xenotransplantation (transplantations of organs/tissues from nonhuman sources to humans) under compassionate use – when a person’s life is at risk and no other treatments are available.
However, the subject isn’t easy to fast track, especially with the recent pandemic. Around 60% of human infectious diseases are zoonotic or from animals, while new or emerging infectious diseases are 75% zoonotic in origin.
Transplanting organs from animals to humans poses a serious risk of spreading new infections, which may ignite new epidemics or pandemics.
But perhaps with CRISPR–Cas9, we can inactivate these infectious agents so doctors can save patients who are in dire need of organ donors.
Would you be willing to get a new, healthy organ from a pig?
