Scientists are racing to find other options than human donors as there are more than 100 thousand Americans waiting for organ transplants. A pig kidney was successfully transplanted into someone for the first time.
It was only tested for 54 hours in a human case, a patient already brain dead who was being kept alive artificially. The transplant team was able to see that the kidney was functioning normally and connected during this time.
This is technically known as xenotransplantation. It involves the transplanting organs or tissues from one species to another. If this work can be continued, pigs may provide a wealth of organs that are suitable for people who require them. In the US, 17 people per day die from transplant-related causes every day.
The operation to attach a kidney. (Joe Carrotta/NYU Langone Health)
"This is a major breakthrough," Dorry Sevev, a professor of transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who was not involved with the research, said to the New York Times. It's a huge, big deal.
There are still many hurdles to be overcome, including regulatory approval. However, using organs from animals in this manner could help the hundreds of thousands who aren’t at risk enough for a transplant but have to undergo complex kidney dialysis procedures.
Although organs taken from pigs are considered to be suitable for human consumption, pig cells contain a sugar called Alpha-gal. This triggers an immediate rejection in the human body. The pig was genetically modified to not produce alpha -gal.
The pig kidney was not allowed to come into contact with the patient's body, but it was seen doing its job: filtering out blood waste and producing urine.
Robert Montgomery, a surgeon at NYU Langone Health in New York City who performed the transplant, said that it was "even better than I had hoped".
Although there is no peer-reviewed scientific review of the operation as yet, we can still be optimistic. Experts predict that trials using pig kidneys to treat critically ill patients could be possible within two years.
However, ethical issues must be considered. Although the human patient's family consented to the test, not all people are comfortable with the idea that organs could be bred to breed animals.
Organs from pigs might be more accepted than organs made from other animals like monkeys because pigs have been bred to eat. They are able to produce large litters and have shorter gestation periods. Additionally, they have organs similar to ours.
Already, we're using pig skin transplants for burns and heart valves in humans. Experiments with pig hearts in baboons have also been done, so there is some precedent. In the coming years, we will hear more about the potential for using pig organs in humans.
Martine Rothblatt, chief executive at United Therapeutics, the company that genetically engineered pigs, stated that "this is an important step forward towards realizing the promise xenotransplantation," The Guardian was told by Martine Rothblatt.
