Xenotransplantation news and discussions

[funkervogt]

For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient's immune system, a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human organs for transplant.

The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City involved use of a pig whose genes had been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger almost immediate rejection.

The recipient was a brain-dead patient with signs of kidney dysfunction whose family consented to the experiment before she was due to be taken off of life support, researchers told Reuters.

For three days, the new kidney was attached to her blood vessels and maintained outside her body, giving researchers access to it.

Test results of the transplanted kidney's function "looked pretty normal," said transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the study.

The kidney made "the amount of urine that you would expect" from a transplanted human kidney, he said, and there was no evidence of the vigorous, early rejection seen when unmodified pig kidneys are transplanted into non-human primates.

The recipient's abnormal creatinine level - an indicator of poor kidney function - returned to normal after the transplant, Montgomery said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-10-19/

Imagine the impact that unlimited organs for transplantation--at affordable prices--will have on human lifespan. We, the people reading this now, could benefit from it someday.

[raklian]

For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient's immune system, a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human organs for transplant.

The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City involved use of a pig whose genes had been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger almost immediate rejection.

The recipient was a brain-dead patient with signs of kidney dysfunction whose family consented to the experiment before she was due to be taken off of life support, researchers told Reuters.

For three days, the new kidney was attached to her blood vessels and maintained outside her body, giving researchers access to it.

Test results of the transplanted kidney's function "looked pretty normal," said transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the study.

The kidney made "the amount of urine that you would expect" from a transplanted human kidney, he said, and there was no evidence of the vigorous, early rejection seen when unmodified pig kidneys are transplanted into non-human primates.

The recipient's abnormal creatinine level - an indicator of poor kidney function - returned to normal after the transplant, Montgomery said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-10-19/

Imagine the impact that unlimited organs for transplantation--at affordable prices--will have on human lifespan. We, the people reading this now, could benefit from it someday.

This is a good stopgap measure until we're able to 3D print full organs at a reasonable cost.

[funkervogt]

Part of the fee for getting an organ transplanted from a pig should be set aside for saving the life of another animal that would have otherwise died. A good place to start might be buying "downed pigs" from farmers for medical treatment and rehabilitation.

https://aldf.org/case/suing-to-protect- ... tory-pigs/

[funkervogt]

I can't stop thinking about the use of animal organs for such experiments. Having been a vegan for many years, I believe that animal lives are as important as ours. And that's why I get confused by these experiments.

I'm also ethically conflicted about it. At a minimum, we have to make sure that whatever harm we do to animals during the organ harvesting process is outweighed by good we do for other animals.

[funkervogt]

A US man has become the first person in the world to get a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig.

David Bennett is doing well three days after the experimental seven-hour procedure in Baltimore, doctors say.

The transplant was considered the last hope of saving Mr Bennett's life, though it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of survival are.

"It was either die or do this transplant," Mr Bennet, 57, explained, a day before the surgery.

"I know it's a shot in the dark, but it's my last choice."

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr Bennett would otherwise have died.

For the medical team who did the transplant, it marks the culmination of years of research - and could change lives around the world.

Surgeon Bartley P. Griffith said the surgery would bring the world "one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis", the University of Maryland School of Medicine said in a release. That crisis means that 17 people a day in the US die waiting for an organ transplant, with more than 100,000 on the waiting list, according to OrganDonor.gov.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59944889

[funkervogt]

Update: The guy just died. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 437650002/

[wjfox]

Update: The guy just died. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 437650002/

Very sad. But hopefully the transplant provided data/insights that could be useful in subsequent operations.

[R8Z]

Well, that's unfortunate. Biology is too damn complex... he might've had an epigenetic rejection.

[funkervogt]

Update: The guy just died. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 437650002/

Very sad. But hopefully the transplant provided data/insights that could be useful in subsequent operations.

I'm sure it did. The man's sacrifice will be worth something.

[funkervogt]

A preliminary medical report sheds new light on what went wrong. Crucially, the man's immune system does not seem to have rejected the pig heart. Rather, the new heart weakened as its muscle tissue died, until it was no longer able to sustain him in a conscious state. He actually died because his family withdrew life support.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06 ... ells-died/

[funkervogt]

The surgeons involved in this case have been refining their techniques by installing pig organs in braindead humans who have donated their bodies to science.

New York researchers transplanted pig hearts into two brain-dead people over the last month, the latest in a string of developments in the long quest to one day save human lives with animal organs.

The experiments announced Tuesday come after a historic but failed attempt earlier this year to use a pig’s heart to save a dying Maryland man — sort of a rehearsal before scientists try again in the living.

Among the lessons: Practice with the deceased is important.

“We learned so much from the first one that the second one is much better,” said Dr. Nader Moazami, who led the operations at NYU Langone Health. “You stand there in awe” when the pig heart starts to beat in a human body.

https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-tr ... 89df976de0

[funkervogt]

Update: A pig kidney surgically implanted in a braindead man functioned as well as a human kidney for two months. It was just removed for careful lab analysis to refine the pig organs further, and the man's family turned off his life support. The sacrifice that they made for science could help save thousands of lives in the near future.

https://apnews.com/article/pig-kidney-t ... 1cc6bc00ef

[funkervogt]

The same team that transplanted the pig heart into a human last year just did it again on a different man. They've learned lessons from the first procedure.

It took over 300 pages of documents filed with FDA, but the Maryland researchers made their case that they'd learned enough from their first attempt last year – even though that patient died for reasons that aren't fully understood – that it made sense to try again.

And Faucette, who retired as a lab technician at the National Institutes of Health, had to agree that he understood the procedure's risks.

In a statement his wife, Ann Faucette, said: "We have no expectations other than hoping for more time together. That could be as simple as sitting on the front porch and having coffee together."

What's different this time: Only after last year's transplant did scientists discover signs of a pig virus lurking inside the heart – and they now have better tests to look for hidden viruses. They also made some medication changes.

Possibly more important, while Faucette has end-stage heart failure and was out of other options, he wasn't as near death as the prior patient.

https://www.wbal.com/article/616915/3/s ... ryland-man

[funkervogt]

A genetically engineered pig kidney has been implanted in a living person through a traditional procedure for the first time.

Richard Slayman, 62, of Weymouth, Mass., who is suffering from end-stage kidney disease, received the organ Saturday in a four-hour procedure, Massachusetts General Hospital announced. He is recovering well and is expected to be discharged soon, the hospital said.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... transplant

[wjfox]

Pig kidney ‘xenotransplant’ patient dies two months later

https://www.theguardian.com/science/art ... nths-later

[TanishaTanTan]

[spam deleted]

[wjfox]

A man in China lived more than 170 days after transplant with pig liver, doctors report

7 hr ago

Doctors in China say they transplanted a genetically modified pig liver into a 71-year-old man who lived 171 days after the procedure, and 38 of those days were with the pig organ in place – a first to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Scientists have had early success transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys and hearts into humans, and pig livers have been transplanted into people who were brain-dead. But experts in the field of xenotransplantation – using animal organs in people – have had some concerns about whether the liver would be a good candidate for such a procedure.

“Everyone always says, ‘oh, liver is too complicated to transplant, compared to the heart or kidney,’ but after this, in the future, I think people will think differently. I think liver is good if we can get enough human genes in the pig,” said Dr. Beicheng Sun, president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and a co-author of the new study.

Unlike hearts and kidneys that have more narrow functions, the liver is more complicated to replace with a pig organ because it’s large and has a dual blood supply and multiple functions. The liver filters blood, removes toxins and waste, processes nutrients, detoxifies harmful substances like alcohol and drugs, produces bile to help with digestion, produces proteins that help blood clot and plays an important role in regulating blood sugar.

Last year, doctors at Penn Medicine did the world’s first known successful external liver perfusion using a gene-edited pig organ. Blood from a brain-dead patient circulated through a pig liver outside the person’s body. In that case, the pig liver showed no signs of inflammation in the 72 hours it was tested, and the patient’s body remained stable.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/09/heal ... lant-china

[firestar464]

"brother, may i have some organs"

[wjfox]

World's first lab-grown oesophagus

25th March 2026

In recent years, scientists have made steady progress towards growing replacement body parts in the lab, but complex tubular organs have remained especially difficult. Now, a team in London has taken a major step forward by demonstrating the first lab-grown oesophagus able to restore swallowing in a large animal.

https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... phagus.htm