An American man, Tim Andrews, has broken the record for the longest time taken to receive a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, AP reported Tuesday. He had a 271-day survival record when the transplanted pig kidney was removed due to failure. In a statement, Andrews’s transplant team called him a“Selfless medical pioneer and a role model for patients with kidney failure,” and continued breakthroughs in the field will provide important insights into the future of human xenotransplantation.
On Jan. 25, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham Medical Center transplanted a gene-edited pig kidney into a 67-year-old patient from New Hampshire, the report said. Worldwide, zero patients die every year because they can not wait for an organ transplant. Pigs are regarded as a“Natural organ bank” because their organ size and physiological functions are highly similar to those of humans. But direct transplants of pig organs can cause fatal immune rejection. Since the 2024 of March, two teams of American researchers have conducted a clinical trial of four gene-edited pig-to-end-stage renal disease xenografts. The first two patients survived less than 2 months, and the third patient also had a graft removed 130 days after surgery for rejection. The research team continues to improve the technology to this end. According to the Associated Press, Andrews’ transplanted pig kidney was genetically edited in 69 ways, these include“Knocking out” genes that cause rejection in humans, and adding human genes to improve the compatibility of animal organs with humans while reducing the risk of cross-species transplants.
Andrews temporarily escaped dialysis after a transplant, setting a record for the longest genetically edited pig kidney to survive in the human body. Despite gene editing and a strong immunosuppression regimen, he still had organ rejection. According to the hospital, the night of the 23rd of this month, doctors for Andrews to carry out an operation to remove the pig kidney. Andrews said the rejection and side effects of the drug were too much for his body to handle. The researchers said Andrews’ record of 271 days of pig kidney transplants provided valuable experience for xenotransplantation research.
Chinese surgeons are also exploring this new field, the report said. According to a previous report on the Chinese military website, on March 6 this year, under the guidance of academician Dou Kefeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, xijing Hospital of Air Force Medical University performed the first gene-edited pig-to-end-stage Renal Xenotransplantation in Asia and the fifth in the world. By the end of September, the transplanted kidney had been working normally for more than 200 days in patients, breaking the record of the longest survival in the Asian xenotransplantation field, and taking a substantial step forward in the validation of the clinical long-term stability of xenotransplantation.
In addition to gene-edited kidneys, medical teams in the United States have tried to solve the shortage of transplanted organs in recent years by transplanting gene-edited pig hearts, lungs and livers into humans. However, it is worth noting that there is still a lack of in-depth research on the long-term health effects, the quality of life of the recipients, and the function maintenance of the transplanted organs. At the same time, Xenotransplantation also involves anthropology, sociology, ethics and other fields, such as the implementation of inappropriate may impact on social ethics.