US Surgeons Perform the First Pig-to-Human Kidney Transplant

• A 62-year-old male with end-stage renal disease became the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig.
• The surgery performed on March 16, 2024, took four hours and is a major milestone in the search to make organs more readily available to patients.
• The hospital said the patient is recovering well and expected to be discharged soon.
• The patient received a human kidney transplant at the same hospital in 2018 after seven years of dialysis, but the organ failed after five years, and he resumed dialysis treatments.
• The pig kidney provided by eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, had been genetically edited to remove genes harmful to a human recipient and add certain human genes to improve compatibility. 
• The company also inactivated viruses inherent to pigs that could infect humans.
• Drugs used to help prevent rejection of the pig organ by the patient's immune system included an experimental antibody called tegoprubart developed by Eledon Pharmaceuticals.
• Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said the surgery marks progress in xenotransplantation (the transplanting of organs or tissues from one species to another).

Source: Heathworld, Reuters