Surgeons transplanting pork genetically modified pork in Chinese patient | Medical research
A genetically modified pork liver that was transplanted to a patient who died in the brain seemed to work successfully within their body for 10 days, according to scientists who performed the revolutionary procedure.
Surgery is thought, in a Chinese hospital, it will mark the first time that a pork liver has been transplanted to a human being. Increases the prospect of pork livers who act as a “bridge organ” for patients in the waiting list for a transplant or to support liver function while their organs regenerate.
Prof. Lin Wang, who guided the trial at the Xijing hospital in Xi’an, said: “This is the first time we tried to reveal if the pork liver could work well in the human body and … if it could replace the original human liver in the future. It is our dream to make this result.”
The progress is the last of a series of transplants involving pork organs since 2022. Surgeons in the United States and China have transplanted the pig hearts, kidneys AND A thyme gland in a small number of patients. Several have died in monthsAlthough their serious illness at the beginning meant that it was not clear if the transplants were a factor. But Others made a good recovery and left the hospital.
The last procedure was performed in a 50 -year -old man with diagnosis of brain death after a serious head injury. The patient’s liver was intact and, in surgery that required more than 10 hours, the organ taken by a genetically modified bama miniature pig was a system on the blood flow as an additional liver.
The pig had six genetic changes aimed at preventing immune refusal. These included the deactivating genes that contribute to the production of sugars on the surface of pork cells, which the human immune system attacks and introduced genes that express human proteins to “humanize” the liver.
After the transplant, the pork liver showed signs of operation, including bile production, which helps to break down fats in the digestive system and the pig albumin, a blood protein.
“There were good compatibility tests, which is really exciting,” said Peter Friend, a transplant professor at the University of Oxford. “Normally if you put a pork organ it will have died in stone in a few minutes because a hyper-acute refusal is obtained.”
The team behind the advance, described in the Nature magazineHe said it was not clear if the liver would be able to fully support the patient, since he had an existing liver and since the liver was removed after 10 days at the request of his family. “We couldn’t see if the pork liver could support a patient with severe liver failure,” said Wang.
Although pork livers only partially replace the liver function, they could still be precious as a “bridge” transplant. Friend said that “elegant surgical hydraulic system” used by the team meant that this could be a relatively simple procedure.
“Basically they inserted the liver in … the main artery that runs from the leg towards the heart,” he said. “This makes it safer and much less inclined to complications and something that can be removed as and when it is not necessary.”
Prof. Muhammad Mohiuddin, director of the xenotransplant cardiac program at the University of Maryland, said: “This is a great leap forward for the field. With a liver, you don’t have to keep it for the rest of your life.
“You can use it as a bridge until a human liver is available for transplantation or it can be used as partial support until the liver regenerates. I firmly believe that this can work.”
