Genetically modified pig hearts for human organ transplants in clinically dead people and in terminally ill people in the United States, China and Europe

Scientists are also exploring using gene-edited pig hearts in people. So far, two such transplants have been carried out in patients who were too ill to be eligible for a human donor heart. In both cases, the patients lived for less than two months.

Luhan Yang, chief executive of Qihan Biotech in Hangzhou, China, which is developing gene-edited pigs as a source for organs, says she expects more xenotransplants in clinically dead people or — for compassionate reasons — in terminally ill people in the United States, China and Europe in the coming years.

Dou says the pig was bred in a specialized pathogen-free facility and tested negative for about a dozen pathogens, including Streptococcus suis, the type-2 strain of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and porcine cytomegalovirus. So far, he has not seen signs of an immediate form of organ rejection and the liver is producing bile. “This is encouraging,” says Cooper.

The researchers have also taken daily blood samples and liver biopsies and will assess immune response, infection risk and liver function in detail. If there is Acute Rejection, we will have a Pathologist evaluate it.

Embryology of a Clinically Dead Person with xenotransplantation at the Massachusetts General Hospital: A New Open Transplantation Announcement

The surgery was approved by the recipient’s family and several university committees, says Wang. It was strictly carried out according to the applicable national and international regulations.

Later this year, researchers will perform another procedure on a clinically dead person and the next time will remove their existing liver.

clinically dead people are useful for assessing viability of xenotransplantation in living people because their brain activity ceases after a certain amount of time, but that is limited due to hormones. And it isn’t yet clear how long someone with no cognitive function can be maintained on a ventilator and with a donated pig organ, he says. The longest documented case was two months, which involved a pig-kidney transplant.

Yang says she hopes the team will publish detailed insights about the transplantation in peer-reviewed publications, to help determine which approach is more feasible.

Richard Slayman received a new organ Saturday in a four-hour procedure at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The hospital said that he was recovering well and would be released soon.

“I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” Slayman said in a statement released by the hospital.

“When my transplanted kidney began failing in 2023, I again trusted my care team at MGH to meet my goals of not just improving my quality of life but extending it,” Slayman said in the hospital’s statement, adding the doctors explained the “pros and cons of this procedure.”

Transplanting Slayman and other animals using gene-editing to save a donor pig from rejection by a biotech company

Several biotech companies are racing to develop a supply of cloned pigs whose DNA has been genetically modified so they won’t be rejected by the human body, spread pig viruses to people or cause other complications. NPR recently got exclusive access to a research farm breeding these animals for a company in this competition, Revivicor Inc. of Blacksburg, Va.

Researchers are using gene-editing to reduce the chance of rejection. A donor pig is the source of Slayman’s new organ. Scientists used Crispr to make 69 edits to the pig, including removing harmful pig genes and adding human genes. They also used Crispr to inactivate innate viruses found in the pig genome that could hypothetically infect a human recipient.

The field is excited about the possibilities of using cloning and editing technology to fix the shortage of organs for humans. More than 103,000 people are waiting for an organ. 17 people die every day because they can’t get one.

Several concerns are raised by the research. There’s a chance of spreading animal Viruses to humans. Another is about slaughtering thousands of animals every year to harvest their organs. Some also question testing these organs on gravely ill patients.

“I think we need to be very, very careful,” L. Syd M. Johnson, a bioethicist at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y., told NPR. There are a lot of concerns about the therapy.

The most beautiful kidney ever seen: A speech speech therapy patient’s reaction to a painful procedure performed in the morning of March 16, 2006, Massachusetts General Hospital

The four-hour surgery was carried out on March 16 at Massachusetts General Hospital. Shortly after the kidney was placed in the patient’s body, it started producing urine—a sign that it was functioning as it should. Tatsuo Kawai, one of the surgeons involved, said the operating room erupted in applause. He said at the press conference that it was the most beautiful kidney he had ever seen.