Khaberni - Today marks the start of the first clinical trial to find out if pig kidney transplantation in humans can truly save lives. This small trial represents the latest step in the quest for animal-to-human transplants.
United Therapeutics, a company that produces genetically modified pig kidneys, announced on Monday that the initial transplant procedure for the study was successfully carried out at NYU Langone Health's medical center in New York City.
This is the latest step in the field of animal-to-human organ transplantation. Another American company, eGenesis, is preparing to start its own clinical trial on pig kidneys in the coming months.
These are the first known clinical trials of what is called xenotransplantation in the world. To protect the identity of the participants in the study, researchers are not releasing information about when the surgery will take place at New York University or further information about the patients.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, from New York University, who led the transplant team, stated that his hospital has a list of other patients interested in joining the small trial, which initially includes six people. If things go well, it might expand to include up to 50 people with additional transplant centers joining.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed thorough studies after a series of trials known as "compassionate use," which yielded mixed results. The first two short-term genetically modified pig kidney transplants were conducted.
Doctors started working with patients who were in dire need of a kidney, but their health condition was no worse than previous recipients. At New York University, a pig kidney lasted for 130 days in a woman before she had to return to dialysis.
The latest record, 271 days, was set by an American man who underwent a kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital; he is now also on dialysis after the transplanted pig organ began to deteriorate, and it was removed last month.
It is also known that others are living with a pig kidney, another patient at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a woman in China.
Montgomery said: "The situation is moving in the right direction," as doctors learn from each patient's experience. He noted that the possibility of resuming dialysis also provides a safety net.
There are over 100,000 people, mostly in need of kidneys, on the organ transplant list in the United States, and thousands die while waiting.
In a group of eight European countries, there are more than 10,000 people on the waiting list for kidneys, according to the international Eurotransplant Foundation, which facilitates organ donation.
As a possible alternative, scientists are genetically modifying pigs so that their organs become more similar to human organs, meaning they are less prone to immediate attack and destruction by the immune system.
United Therapeutics' trial is testing pig kidneys through 10 genetic modifications, removing pig genes that lead to early rejection and excessive organ growth, and adding some human genes to improve compatibility.
