In a groundbreaking medical feat, surgeons have accomplished the transplantation of a kidney from a genetically modified pig into a 62-year-old man requiring a transplant in the United States.
The four-hour procedure took place on Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, U.S., involving a 62-year-old man afflicted with end-stage kidney disease.
The hospital issued a statement noting, “This procedure represents a significant advancement in efforts to offer more accessible organ options for patients.”
Shortages of organs persist globally, with the Boston hospital reporting over 1,400 patients awaiting kidney transplants solely at MGH.
Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, part of the surgical team, expressed optimism: “We aim for this transplant method to serve as a lifeline for millions of kidney failure patients worldwide.”
The hospital revealed that the pig kidney utilized in the transplant had undergone genetic editing to eliminate harmful pig genes while introducing specific human genes.
According to the hospital, the recipient, Richard Slayman from Weymouth, Massachusetts, “is progressing well at MGH and is anticipated to be discharged soon.”
Slayman, who contends with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, underwent a human kidney transplant in 2018. However, the kidney began to fail five years later, leading him to rely on dialysis.
Expressing his rationale for consenting to the pig kidney transplant, Slayman stated, “I agreed not only to benefit myself but also to offer hope to the countless individuals reliant on transplants for survival.”
Slayman, who is of Black ethnicity, stands to potentially benefit from the procedure, as indicated by the hospital, which highlighted its potential significance for ethnic minorities disproportionately affected by kidney disease.
Dr. Winfred Williams, Slayman’s nephrologist, remarked, “Addressing this health disparity has been the focus of numerous national policy endeavors for over three decades, yielding only limited progress.”
Williams continued, “The emergence of a plentiful organ supply resulting from this technological advancement may significantly contribute to achieving health equity and providing the optimal solution to kidney failure – a fully functioning kidney – for all patients in need.”
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The practice of transplanting organs from one species to another is a burgeoning area termed xenotransplantation.
While pig kidneys had been previously transplanted into brain-dead patients, Slayman marks the first living individual to undergo such a procedure.
In recent occurrences, pig hearts were transplanted into two patients in the United States; however, both patients survived for less than two months
