NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Could pig kidneys be the key to helping people in dire need of organ transplants?
One New Haven doctor says that could happen eventually.
The medical community reacts after doctors at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital announced they had successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig kidney into a living human, following the first-of-its-kind surgery. There is. The patient is 62 years old and has end-stage renal disease.
“This is a really exciting advance for our field, not just for kidneys but for all transplants,” said Dr. Vandana Kunger, a transplant hepatologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
This is a twist on the modern medical story.
“This is particularly interesting because we know that the recipient is less likely to reject the organ because it has been gene edited through a technology called CRISPR,” Kunger said.
Kungal said the gene-editing process allows pig kidneys to be compatible with multiple blood types, a breakthrough that comes as more than 100,000 people remain on the country’s organ transplant waiting list, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. He said that it could be a viable solution. 17 people die every day.
Kungal said pigs are being used because their genomes can be easily edited.
“There are more similarities between pigs and humans than we realize,” he says.
Kunger said it may be some time before xenotransplantation becomes standard treatment, but doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital are closely monitoring the situation and are talking with colleagues at other institutions. He said he was there.
The doctor added that the surgery carries a number of risks surrounding immunity and the possibility of “zoonotic” infection.
