 has successfully transplanted pig kidneys into a human (Picture: PA) Kidneys from pigs provided 'life-sustaining kidney function' after being transplanted into a brain-dead patient, researchers have found. Kidneys were first transplanted from a genetically modified pig to a human in 2022, and scientists have gone a step further by showing they can support kidney function in someone for a week. The development advances the promise of transplantation from one species to another, known as xenotransplantation, as a therapy to potentially cure end-stage kidney disease, researchers say. They add that it also addresses a critical worldwide kidney organ shortage crisis. University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) transplant surgeon scientist Jayme Locke is director of the university's Comprehensive Transplant Institute in the Marnix E Heersink School of Medicine and lead author of the paper. 'It has been truly extraordinary to see the first-ever pre-clinical demonstration that appropriately modified pig kidneys can provide normal, life-sustaining kidney function in a human safely and be achieved using a standard immunosuppression regimen,' she said. 'We were able to gather additional safety and scientific information critical to our efforts to seek FDA [Food and Drug Administration] clearance of a Phase I clinical trial in living humans and hopefully add a new, desperately needed solution to address an organ shortage crisis responsible for tens of thousands of preventable deaths each year.' The findings come 19 months after last year's ground-breaking UAB xenotransplant research study in which genetically modified pig kidneys were successfully transplanted into a recipient after brain death. Dr Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, prepares a pig kidney for transplant (Picture: AP) The new study was conducted using the Parsons Model, a human brain death model developed at UAB to evaluate){kind=link}
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Kidneys from pigs provided ‘life-sustaining kidney function’ after being transplanted into a brain-dead patient, researchers have found.
Kidneys were first transplanted from a genetically modified pig to a human in 2022, and scientists have gone a step further by showing they can support kidney function in someone for a week.
The development advances the promise of transplantation from one species to another, known as xenotransplantation, as a therapy to potentially cure end-stage kidney disease, researchers say.
They add that it also addresses a critical worldwide kidney organ shortage crisis.