Woman who received gene-edited pig kidney transplant speaks out

Twana Rooney became the fifth American to receive a gene-edited pig organ last month and is recovering well.

Rooney's transplant is 3rd time Gene-edited pig kidneys have been transplanted into living humans, but previous transplants were for people who were either brain dead or at high risk of dying within a few months. According to New York University Langone Health, where Rooney underwent the transplant, Rooney began dialysis treatment in 2016 after developing kidney failure and was placed on the list for a kidney transplant in early 2017. This is the first healthy patient to receive a recombinant pig kidney, and expectations are high. One day, pig kidneys could help ease the ongoing organ shortage.

Rooney said at a press conference on Tuesday that she feels “blessed” to have had a “second chance at life.”

“I want to give courage to those undergoing dialysis,” she added. “It's not easy and it's not the only option. There is hope.”

For various medical reasons, Rooney was unable to find a human match and was subject to a procedure that is still experimental.

“Since there was no way to accept a human kidney, she decided it was worth trying a gene-edited pig kidney,” said Robert, who led the operation and is director of New York University's Langone Transplant Institute. Montgomery, M.D., said at a press conference Tuesday.

NYU Langone Health said Rooney was originally under the care of University of Alabama at Birmingham transplant surgeon Jamie Locke, MD, MPH, while at home in Alabama; Appointed head of department. U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

Locke said this week: “Pioneering pigs genetically engineered pigs and found they were so compatible with twana that they truly had the opportunity to gain the gift of life.” he said.

The world's first gene-edited pig kidney was transplanted into a living human. executed Earlier this year, the recipient was died Almost 2 months later.

first combined Mechanical heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgery It was held in New York University Langone He passed away in April this year, but his beneficiary subsequently passed away in July.

Rooney's doctors said there was still hope because Rooney was not as ill as previous recipients.

“I think the main difference is that Twana is in much better physical condition. Her disease has not spread to the point where she is at high risk of dying immediately,” Montgomery said.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Program at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in Rooney's transplant, explained: This was the era in which people lived and died. ”

Asked about next steps, Montgomery said he was confident more patients like Rooney would be seen through the FDA's Expanded Access and Compassionate Use programs, and that clinical trials would be “probably around this time next year or sooner.” He said it would start “as soon as possible.”

“Our challenge is to learn how to support these kidneys for long periods of time so that they become a reasonable replacement for this rare and highly rationed human organ,” Montgomery said. .

Dr. Niki Iranpour is an internal medicine resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.