Nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital removes a gene-edited pig kidney, preparing it for transplant into a patient - Photo: Massachusetts General Hospital
On March 21, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital (USA) announced that a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal disease had just become the first person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney.
According to Reuters, the four-hour surgery was performed on March 16. The hospital said patient Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts is recovering well and is expected to be discharged soon.
Mr. Slayman received a kidney transplant at the same hospital in 2018, after seven years of dialysis. However, the kidney failed after five years, forcing him to continue treatment with dialysis.
The transplanted pig kidney was provided by eGenesis, a company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from a pig that had been genetically modified to remove genes harmful to the recipient and add certain human genes to improve compatibility.
eGenesis' gene-edited pig kidneys have been successfully transplanted into monkeys, helping them survive for an average of 176 days, with one case lasting more than two years.
Several drugs are being used to help prevent the patient's immune system from rejecting the pig kidney, including an experimental antibody called tegoprubart, developed by Eledon Pharmaceuticals ELDN.O, Reuters reported.
More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for organs for transplant, with kidneys in greatest need.
In January 2022, a team from the University of Maryland, also in the US, transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a 57-year-old man with heart disease. However, he died two months later.
Source
Comment (0)