Doctors confirmed that the organs gene-edited by the doctors functioned in the host body normally, opening the doors to larger clinical trials for living patients.
Surgeons in the US have announced the successful transplantation of kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead man’s body. The organs created urine for three days and showed no signs of being rejected by the host’s immune system before the study concluded.
On Thursday, the American Journal of Transplantation published a description of this procedure. This is another step in overcoming many of the major obstacles to human xenotransplantation (or cross-species tissue transfers). Such implants might be useful in solving the long-standing shortage of organ donors.
The surgery was performed by doctors at Birmingham’s University of Alabama on September 30, 2013. It involved Jim Parsons (57 years old) who was brain dead following a motorcycle crash. After removing Parsons’ own kidneys while his blood was still circulating, the team inserted the pig organs. In less than 30 minutes, the team was producing urine and filtering blood.
“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,”Jayme Locke, the lead surgeon for this operation, stated in a statement.
“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,” Elle added.
Locke pointed out that the use of brain-dead patients in such operations is common. However, he told The Daily Mail that it would be different if they used healthy patients. Although there are no guarantees, “hostile”Because it is difficult to evaluate typical kidney function in a brain-dead environment, it’s risky. She said that it was safer. “evaluate the safety and feasibility of the pig-to-non-human primate model.”
Prior to the surgery, Parsons received immune-suppression therapy to prevent his cells from rejecting the organs, while the animal’s genes were edited at 10 key points to “knock in”Six genes were identified as human while four were removed from pigs. This study found that the research was carried out using pigs since they can be used for such purposes. “easily bred and can have organs of similar size to humans.”
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An American man from Maryland received his first heart transplant earlier in the month. It was performed by a genetically-modified pig. Meanwhile, surgeons in New York successfully implanted a pig kidney into another brain-dead patient last year, but Locke said that procedure did not remove the host’s kidneys.
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