Chinese patient receives world’s first gene-edited pig liver transplant

A pig liver that had been edited to delete multiple genes associated with proteins that cause organ rejection was transplanted into a brain-dead patient on Sunday.

The team’s home base, the Air Force Medical University, posted on WeChat on Thursday that blood and liver bile flow in the transplanted liver were all “good” and the patient showed no signs of organ rejection 96 hours after the surgery. It is said that

According to the university, the transplant is “the first of its kind in the world.”

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According to a study published last year in the Journal of Hepatology, liver disease kills about 2 million people a year worldwide.

The process, known as xenotransplantation, “could benefit more patients with end-stage liver disease and completely replace human liver transplantation,” the university’s WeChat post said.

But the liver has an even bigger challenge. The organ is more complex in structure and function, and the pig-derived version “cannot completely replace the human liver,” the post said.

To address this, researchers and surgeons performed auxiliary transplants. This involves storing the patient’s original organs in the body alongside the transplanted organs.

Surgeons cut one of the patient’s large veins in the liver, removed the donor pig’s liver, trimmed it to a certain weight, and attached the transplanted liver to each end of the vein.

The research team pioneered this method to adhere transplanted livers and ensure good blood and liver bile flow. This “represents a new option in the clinical application of xenogeneic liver transplantation,” the WeChat post said.

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Terminal heart patient receives first genetically modified pig heart transplant

Terminal heart patient receives first genetically modified pig heart transplant

Studies have shown that animals receiving xenogeneic liver transplants have shorter survival times than animals receiving hearts or kidneys from another species.

The researchers said that xenogeneic liver transplantation is currently most suitable as a temporary alternative to human liver transplantation, or if pig organs can be used to restore liver function to patients. .

“From this perspective, xenogeneic liver transplantation has great clinical application value,” the university said.

According to the Nuffield Bioethics Council, a UK-based independent policy and research centre, It is said that it also causes problems.