Pig kidneys have been successfully transplanted into a human for the first time, raising hopes that xenotransplantation could one day help address global organ shortages.
Carried out at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, the team transplanted two clinical-grade, genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain-dead 57-year-old man. Ten key gene edits were made to reduce immune rejection.
The procedure mirrored conventional transplants as much as possible. The recipient and donor animal underwent a crossmatch compatibility test developed by UAB, marking the first time a such a test has been validated between a pig and human. The pig kidneys were placed in the exact anatomic locations used for human donor kidneys, with the same attachments to the renal artery, renal vein and ureter. The recipient received standard immune-suppression therapy used in conventional transplants.
Search Antibodies Search Now Use our Antibody Search Tool to find the right antibody for your research. Filter
by Type, Application, Reactivity, Host, Clonality, Conjugate/Tag, and Isotype.
The transplanted kidneys filtered blood, produced urine and were not immediately rejected. The kidneys remained viable until the study was ended, 77 hours after transplant.
“This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis,” says Jayme Locke, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute in UAB’s Department of Surgery and lead surgeon for the study. “We have bridged critical knowledge gaps and obtained the safety and feasibility data necessary to begin a clinical trial in living humans with end-stage kidney failure disease.”
More than 800,000 Americans are living with kidney failure, and 240 dialysis patients die every day.
“This human preclinical model is a way to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the pig-to-non-human primate model, without risk to a living human,” Locke added. “Our study demonstrates that major barriers to human xenotransplantation have been surmounted, identifies where new knowledge is needed to optimize xenotransplantation outcomes in humans, and lays the foundation for the establishment of a novel preclinical human model for further study.”
The study was published in the American Journal of Transplantation and was supported by a grant from United Therapeutics Corporation. Revivicor, Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, provided the genetically modified pig.