At least half a dozen people in the United States and China have received organs from genome-edited pigs. A genetically modified left lung with six genomic edits was transplanted on 15 May into a brain‑dead 39‑year‑old man in China; the organ survived nine days. The edits removed three pig genes to reduce immune triggering and added three human genes to protect against rejection. No signs of rejection, infection or graft failure appeared in the first three days, but lung swelling developed after 24 hours. Lungs pose special transplantation challenges because abundant blood vessels increase immune attack, clotting and tissue damage. US clinical trials for pig livers and kidneys were approved.
At least half a dozen people in the United States and China have received organs from genome-edited pigs, including hearts, kidneys, livers and a thymus. The latest procedure suggests that almost any pig organ could be transplanted into people, researchers say. They hope that the animal organs might one day save the thousands of people who die each year while waiting for a donor organ.
Lungs are the most difficult organ to transplant, says Muhammad Mohiuddin, a surgeon and researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, who in 2022 led the first pig-heart transplant into a living person. Lungs have the most blood vessels of any transplantable organ, so they are more prone to attack from the immune system, which can lead to blood clots and tissue damage, says Mohiuddin.
The transplanted left lung was taken from a pig with six genomic edits that was created by research firm Chengdu Clonorgan Biotechnology in China. This included removing three genes to reduce the risk of the organ triggering an immune response and adding three human genes to protect the organ from rejection. In the proof-of-concept trial, the lung was transplanted on 15 May last year, by researchers at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China.
Collection
[
|
...
]