U.S. performs 1st human transplant of genetically modified pig kidney

U.S. surgeons have performed the world's first successful transplant of a genetically-edited pig kidney into a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease, the Massachusetts General Hospital announced on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

Surgeons from the hospital's Mass General Transplant Center conducted the four-hour surgery last Saturday.

The patient, Richard "Rick" Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is recovering well and is expected to be discharged soon, according to the hospital.

Slayman had a kidney transplant at the hospital in 2018, but had to go back on dialysis last year when it showed signs of failure. When dialysis complications arose, his doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant, Slayman said in a statement.

"I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive," said Slayman.

The announcement marks the latest development in the emerging field of xenotransplantation - the transplantation of organs or tissues from one species to another - as a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage.

The procedure was a "major milestone" in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients, said the hospital.

"Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from kidney failure," said Tatsuo Kawai, director of the hospital's Legorreta Center for Clinical Transplant Tolerance.

The pig kidney was provided from a pig donor that was genetically-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans.

Additionally, scientists inactivated porcine endogenous retroviruses in the pig donor to eliminate any risk of infection in humans, according to the hospital.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are on the waiting list for a transplant, most of them kidney patients, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

A kidney is the most common organ needed for transplant, and end-stage kidney disease rates are estimated to increase 29 to 68 percent in the United States by 2030, according to literature published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.