The heart from a genetically modified pig was put into the chest of a man from Maryland in a last-ditch attempt to save his life. The first-of-its-kind surgery is being hailed as a major step forward in the decades-long effort to successfully transplant animal organs into humans.
The practice of using a baboon's heart to save a human's life has fallen into disuse because the animal organs are usually quickly rejected by their human host.
Doctors say this new transplant is a breakthrough because the donor pig had undergone gene-editing to remove a specific type of sugar from its cells that's thought to be responsible for previous organ rejections in patients.
How long can organs stay outside the body?
The first of 5 images is image 1 of 5.
David Bennett, the recipient of the pig's heart transplant, was ineligible for a transplant from a human donor. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
The transplant heart was removed from the pig before the surgery on the human patient because they are about the same size and shape. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
The University of Maryland Medical Center carried out the transplant of a pig's heart into a human patient four days ago. The patient is doing well. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
The method of genetically modifying pigs' organs so they are less likely to be rejected by the human immune system has been pioneered by a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
Six human genes were added to the pig to aid its acceptance by a human patient, and three genes that could cause an immune system response in humans were knocked out. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
The human patient is breathing on his own after four days after the surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The next few days and weeks are critical to his survival.
According to the statement, several medical centers determined that David Bennett was ineligible for a human transplant because of his terminal heart disease.
It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. Bennett said the day before his surgery that it was his last choice. I will get out of bed after I recover.
An organ transplant.
The pig-to-human surgery in Maryland was given emergency approval on New Year's Eve by the FDA, which allows experimental treatments to be used when there is no other option to save a patient's life.
The director of the Cardiac Transplant Program at UMMC said that the surgery brought us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis. There are not enough human hearts available to meet the demand.
The doctors involved in the transplant were cautiously proceeding, but they were optimistic about the procedure's life-saving potential.
There were a record 3,800 heart transplants in the United States last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Over 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant in the US, and over 6,000 people die each year before getting one, according to the federal government's organdonor.gov website.
If the method of genetically modifying donor animals so that their organs are less likely to be rejected by human hosts proves successful in the long-term, such procedures might be an option for many other patients awaiting transplants.
Six human genes were added to the pig to aid its acceptance by a human patient, and three genes that could cause an immune system response in humans were knocked out. The University of Maryland Medical Center has an image.
A breakthrough surgery.
The Baby Fae case in 1984 caused the abandonment of the experimental practice of transplantting animal organs into humans.
She was born with a terminal heart condition and doctors hoped that a baboon heart transplant would help her live.
The foreign heart was rejected by Baby Fae's immune system and she died within a month.
Humans and pigs have the same size and shape of their hearts.
Until now the possibility of a fatal immune system reaction has prevented pig hearts from being used to replace human hearts.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine has received more than 15 million dollars in research grants to evaluate transplants of hearts from genetically modified pigs.
The method involves editing the pig's genome to remove three genes that cause a rapid immune system response in the recipient, and adding six human genes that aid the organ's acceptance. The pig's heart doesn't grow too large because one of the genes was turned off. Drugs for suppressing the human immune system were used in the patient.
The director of the university's animal-to-human transplant program told the Associated Press that there will be an endless supply of organs for patients who are suffering.
The pig's heart used in the latest surgery came from Revivicor, a subsidiary of the Maryland-based company United Therapeutics, which is developing genetically modified pig organs for human transplants.
Live Science published the original article.
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