Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, announced that it has successfully for the first time transplanted a genetically modified kidney from a pig into a 62-year-old man suffering from end-stage kidney disease.
The patient identified as Richard “Rick” Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is recovering well after the four-hour surgery and will soon be discharged from the hospital, the doctors informed.
The hospital stated, “This successful procedure in a living recipient is a historic milestone in the emerging field of xenotransplantation – the transplantation of organs or tissues from one species to another – as a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage”.
The doctors informed that Slayman agreed to the procedure as his options were limited and he wanted “to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.”
The surgery performed by Leonardo Riella, Medical Director for Kidney Transplantation; Tatsuo Kawai, Director of the Legorreta Center for Clinical Transplant Tolerance, and Nahel Elias, Interim Chief of Transplant Surgery and Surgical Director for Kidney Transplantation, utilized a genetically-edited pig kidney with 69 genomic edits done using Crispr-Cas9 technology.
The technology helped in removing harmful pig genes and adding certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans. The scientists also inactivated porcine endogenous retroviruses in the pig donor to eliminate the risk of infection in the patient.
“An abundant supply of organs resulting from this technological advance may go far to finally achieve health equity and offer the best solution to kidney failure – a well-functioning kidney – to all patients in need”, Winfred Williams, Slayman’s nephrologist commented.
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