Surgeons transplanted a genetically modified left lung from a Chinese Bama Xiang pig into a 39-year-old brain-dead man after a brain hemorrhage. The lung remained viable and functional for 216 hours (nine days) in the human recipient. Gene edits using CRISPR removed pig antigens that could trigger the human immune response. Lungs present greater xenotransplantation challenges than kidneys or hearts because of fragility, complexity, and air exposure to toxins. Previous xenotransplants have included pig hearts, kidneys, and livers surviving short periods in humans. Widespread use of pig lungs in healthy humans could remain decades away.
Surgeons have successfully transplanted a pig lung into a human, marking another huge step in the decades-long quest to use animal organs for life-saving procedures. In the first operation of its kind, the genetically modified pig lung was transplanted into a 39-year-old brain-dead male following a brain hemorrhage. Amazingly, the organ remained 'viable' and functional over a period of nine days - suggesting humans could one day live with transplanted pig lungs.
However, the transplantation of lungs is a much bigger challenge, due to their fragility, complexity and exposure to toxins from air in the outside world. As a result, the team had to make gene edits to a Chinese Bama Xiang pig from which its left lung was obtained. Gene editing tool CRISPR was used to remove the antigens that could activate the human immune system following the transplantation.
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