First gene-edited pig kidney transplanted into living human being

Doctors have successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig kidney into a living human for the first time.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital removed the kidney and transplanted it into a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal disease.

The surgery took four hours and was completed on Saturday. Richard Suleiman of Massachusetts is improving and will be discharged soon, the hospital announced. Thursday morning press release.

Pig kidneys have been modified using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, allowing researchers to add human genes to improve fitness or remove harmful pig genes. Ta.

The transplant was performed under the single FDA Expanded Access Protocol, which allows investigational medicines and drugs to be used in patients with life-threatening diseases and conditions.

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This is not the first time that gene-edited pig kidneys have been transplanted into humans.

last year, NYU Langone Health Physicians Successfully Complete A pig kidney xenotransplant was performed on a man who was declared brain dead and on a ventilator.

The pig’s kidneys functioned for several months.

Supporters say it could be a solution to the global organ shortage.

As of March 21, more than 103,000 people in the United States were waiting for an organ transplant. According to the Unified Network for Organ Sharing.

According to Donate Life America, nearly 90,000 people are waiting to donate a kidney.

Opponents of such a procedure claim that it harms animals and is also dangerous to human health.

Last year, the nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wrote in the press release“These experimenters are harming animals, exploiting humans who cannot speak for themselves, and risking new pandemics. Guaranteed that pig organs do not contain dangerous viruses. It is impossible.”

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