It is the first. A genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted A living patient. This was announced by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston in a press release on Thursday March 21. “This represents a new step toward a potential solution to the chronic lack of organ donation.”, explained American Hospital. The world’s first kidney transplant was performed in this hospital in 1954.
Transplanted on March 16, Richard Slayman, aged 62, who was suffering from chronic kidney failure, in a context Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, “get well” of operation. A first step towards success, which remains to be confirmed over time.
In 2018, he received his first kidney from a deceased human donor, but it deteriorated. The hospital specifies, forcing the patient to resume dialysis in May 2023, five years after the transplant. He then had serious complications. ” (doctors) The pros and cons of the procedure were carefully explained to me (pig kidney transplant), Richard Slayman was quoted as saying in the press release. I saw this not only to help me, but also to give hope to thousands of people who need a transplant to survive. »
Genetically modified pig kidney Five have already been transplanted into brain-dead humans – the first by surgeons at NYU Langone Hospital in New York in September 2021. Two surviving patients received heart transplants from genetically modified pigs, but died a few weeks later.
The kidney, provided by the American company Egenesis of Cambridge (Massachusetts), comes from a pig that underwent 69 genomic changes using Crispr-Cas9 technology. The purpose of this is to remove the porcine genes ” Harmful » and adding specific human genes to improve compatibility with humans. The scientists also inactivated the porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) present in all pigs. Risk of infection in the recipient.
Overcome many challenges
Over the past five years, Massachusetts General Hospital and iGenesis have conducted extensive collaborative research, the results of which are published in Nature In 2023. “This is a big step that has been taken, this pace has not happened in the last forty years, but we have to be careful”, comments Alexandre Loupi, who directs the Paris Institute of Organ Transplantation and Regeneration (Pitor, Paris City University, Inserm, AP-HP), which collaborates closely with American transplant teams. A similar resonance for the research nephrologist Valentin Gautaudier of Pitor.
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