The world's first surgery to transplant a 'pig kidney' into a human is successful, marking a major milestone in xenotransplantation and a ray of hope for patients waiting for organ transplants around the world.



Massachusetts General Hospital has announced the world's first successful transplant of a ``gene-edited pig kidney'' into a 62-year-old human man.

Surgery to transplant pig organs into humans has been performed before, but this is the first time a kidney transplant has been performed.

World's First Genetically-Edited Pig Kidney Transplant into Living Recipient Performed at Massachusetts General Hospital
https://www.massgeneral.org/news/press-release/worlds-first-genetically-edited-pig-kidney-transplant-into-living-recipient



Pig kidney transplanted into human patient for 1st time ever | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/health/surgery/pig-kidney-transplanted-into-human-patient-for-1st-time-ever

A man got a gene-edited pig kidney transplanted, making medical history : Shots - Health News : NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/21/1239790816/first-pig-kidney-human-transplant

On March 21, 2024 local time, Massachusetts General Hospital announced that it had successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig kidney into a human kidney disease patient for the first time in the world. The surgery was carried out on Saturday, March 16, 2024, and it seems that the surgery lasted for 4 hours. Massachusetts General Hospital said, ``This operation marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs for patients.''

The pig kidney transplant surgery was performed under the direction of transplant surgeon Naher Elias, under the leadership of Leonardo V. Riera, director of kidney transplant medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Tatsuo Kawai, director of the Legorreta Clinical Transplant Tolerance Center. It was held. The surgically transplanted organ was a pig kidney that had undergone 69 genome edits.

Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the largest medical research institutions in the United States and a founding member of Mass General Brigham, a leader in medical research worldwide. Mass General Brigham is known for his innovative and outstanding achievements in the field of organ transplants, including the world's first organ (kidney) transplant in 1954 and America's first penis transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2016. It is also one of the research institutions that has left a legacy of



'Mass General Brigham's researchers and clinicians work together to transform medicine and solve the critical health problems patients face in their daily lives,' said Ann Klibansky, CEO of Mass General Brigham. Always pushing the boundaries of science.''Nearly 70 years after the first successful kidney transplant, our clinicians are delivering innovative treatments and reducing the burden of disease for patients and people around the world. We have once again demonstrated our efforts to achieve this goal.'

Director Kawai said, 'This successful transplant is the culmination of decades of hard work by thousands of scientists and physicians. We are honored to have played a key role in this milestone. Our hope is that this transplant approach will provide a lifeline to the millions of patients around the world suffering from kidney failure.'

The transplanted pig kidney was provided by

eGenesis , a pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This pig kidney was gene-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 to remove harmful pig genes and add specific human genes to make it more compatible with humans. Researchers also inactivated the endogenous porcine retrovirus in the donor pig to eliminate the risk of human infection.

This may be related to the fact that the cause of death of the man who received the world's first pig heart transplant was a pig-derived virus.

Possibility that a pig-derived virus was involved in the cause of death of the world's first ``man who received a pig heart transplant'' has emerged - GIGAZINE



Mike Curtis, CEO of eGenesis, which donated the gene-edited pig kidney, said: ``We are grateful for the courageous contributions of our patients and the advancement of transplant science.'' ``We are proud of Massachusetts General Hospital for achieving this historic milestone.'' We congratulate our collaborators, and we also recognize the hard work and dedication of the members of eGenesis who have made this achievement possible. 'It shows the potential of genetic engineering to change the lives of millions of suffering patients.'

The successful operation marks a historic milestone in the emerging field of xenotransplantation (the transplantation of organs and tissues from one species to another) as a potential solution to the global organ shortage. According to the National Organ Allocation Network, more than 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants in the United States, and 17 patients die every day due to organ shortages. Kidneys are the most common organ needed for organ transplants, and the rate of end-stage kidney disease in the United States is estimated to increase by 29% to 68% by 2030, according to a research paper published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. .

The world's first pig kidney transplant recipient was Richard Suleiman of Weymouth, Massachusetts. Suleiman had long suffered from type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure and underwent dialysis in 2017 before receiving a kidney transplant from a deceased human donor in December 2018. Five years later, in 2023, the transplanted kidney showed signs of failure, and in May 2023, he started dialysis again. Since then, vascular access complications from dialysis have recurred, and he has had to return to the hospital every two weeks for clot removal and surgical procedures. This is also a common problem for dialysis patients.



Regarding Mr. Suleiman, Jolene C. Madsen, Director of the Transplant Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, said, ``Today's true hero is our patient Mr. Suleiman.The success of his pioneering surgery, which was once unimaginable, is unprecedented. This would not have been possible without his courage and drive to venture into the medical field. As the global medical community celebrates this monumental achievement, Mr. It will become a light and open up a new frontier in organ transplantation.'

'Seventy years after the first kidney transplant and 60 years since the advent of immunosuppressive drugs, we are on the precipice of a breakthrough in organ transplantation,' Riera said. 'Massachusetts General Hospital alone has a waiting list for kidney transplants. has over 1,400 patients. Unfortunately, due to long waiting times for dialysis, some of these patients die or their symptoms deteriorate to the point where they are unable to receive a transplant. 'I strongly believe that xenotransplantation is a promising solution to the organ shortage crisis.'

In addition, the experiment of connecting a pig's kidney to the human body was successful as of 2021.

Experiment to connect ``pig kidney'' to human body was successful, confirmation of removal of waste products & no rejection reaction - GIGAZINE



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