{"id":2018,"date":"2025-02-09T11:46:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T11:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/experimental-transplants-with-organs-from-gene-edited-pigs-see-major-steps-forward\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T11:46:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T11:46:32","slug":"experimental-transplants-with-organs-from-gene-edited-pigs-see-major-steps-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/09\/experimental-transplants-with-organs-from-gene-edited-pigs-see-major-steps-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Experimental transplants with organs from gene-edited pigs see major steps forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 66-year-old Tim Andrews, it was a matter of life or death. <\/p>\n

Andrews had spent the better part of two years on dialysis because of end-stage kidney disease. He was on the transplant wait list for a new kidney, but his blood type made it particularly difficult to find a donor organ. <\/p>\n

The average wait time for a kidney is three to five years at most centers, but studies have found that people with type-O blood can wait as long as 10 years to receive a kidney. His chances of living five more years on long-term dialysis are just around 35%. His doctors estimated that he had about a 9% chance of getting an organ in the next five years. <\/p>\n

Andrews said he had a \u201cshortage of time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really becomes very, very depressing that this is it, you know? \u201d he recalls thinking. \u201cThis is how I\u2019m going to end my life. I\u2019m going to be going to dialysis and being tired.\u201d <\/p>\n

So Andrews didn\u2019t hesitate when his doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital asked whether he would consider an experimental transplant using a kidney from a donor pig. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, I\u2019m not in the darkness. I\u2019m going to get better. I am going to do this,\u201d Andrews said in a hospital interview shared with journalists. <\/p>\n

On Friday, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced that Andrews had successfully received the pig kidney. The January 25 procedure took place through the US Food and Drug Administration\u2019s Expanded Access pathway, often known as compassionate use, which allows patients with life-threatening conditions to access investigational medical products. He\u2019ll be the first in a three-patient study and is the second person currently living in the world with a pig kidney. <\/p>\n

The team at Massachusetts General used an organ developed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company eGenesis. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur three-patient study this year will provide critical insights into the long-term viability of xenotransplants as a transformative solution for thousands of patients in need of a life-saving kidney,\u201d Dr. Leonardo Riella, medical director for kidney transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u2018One of the many holy grails\u2019<\/h2>\n

The practice of transplanting animal organs into humans, known as xenotransplantation, has long felt like science fiction. However, in the past three years, half a dozen such procedures have taken place in the United States using pigs that have been genetically modified, so their organs are more compatible with humans\u2019. <\/p>\n

Using the gene-editing technique CRISPR, scientists can modify the pig\u2019s DNA. eGenesis workers make more than 60 edits to help manage a host of potential issues including rejection, size of the organ and even pig retroviruses that could potentially infect humans. <\/p>\n

Another biotech company, United Therapeutics, announced this week that it had received the green light from the FDA to move forward with a xenotransplant trial with its pig kidneys, which have 10 gene edits. The company expects to perform the first of six initial transplants in people with end-stage kidney disease in the middle of 2025, with the intent of expanding the trial to a total of 50 patients. <\/p>\n

United Therapeutics expects pig kidney transplants to be an established option for patients by the end of this decade, spokesperson Dewey Steadman said. <\/p>\n

For those in the transplant field, the approval of clinical trials is a major turning point. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole field has been working towards this moment of clarity and the ability to go into patients,\u201d said Mike Curtis, CEO of eGenesis. \u201cIt creates a very clear path for us to bring this technology to more patients.\u201d <\/p>\n

Early in her decades-long career, Dr. Jayme Locke said she wasn\u2019t sure she would see this technology make its way to the operating table. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the many holy grails, I think, that we\u2019ve been trying to achieve in the field of transplantation,\u201d said Locke, a transplant surgeon at NYU Langone Health who was not involved in Andrews\u2019 case. <\/p>\n

Locke sees it as a benefit to have multiple companies with different genetic models enter trials. \u201cWe have yet to define what the optimal genetic edits are going to be,\u201d she said. And it\u2019s likely that different people will respond differently to the genetic edits, with some matching better with one than the other. <\/p>\n

A true test of the potential<\/h2>\n

Until recently, attempts at xenotransplant with pig kidneys resulted in about two more months of life for the patients. However, Locke said those cases aren\u2019t a true test of xenotransplant\u2019s potential. <\/p>\n

Earlier attempts at transplanting pig kidneys into humans, including one last year at Mass General, were done in people who had such significant health issues that they didn\u2019t qualify to be on the organ wait list. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to do this in an individual who is robust and otherwise qualified for wait-listing is really, I think, helpful,\u201d Locke said. <\/p>\n

Locke has been involved in the transplant and care of 53-year-old Towana Looney, who received a pig kidney from United Therapeutics in November at NYU Langone\u2019s Transplant Institute. Looney, an Alabama native, has been living in New York since then, receiving constant monitoring and follow-up. Now at 74 days post-transplant, Looney holds the record for the longest-living recipient of a pig organ and is the best proof yet that pig organs could be a viable source for donor organs. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we\u2019re past that 90-day mark, we can actually say that the xenograft has helped a patient achieve a similar survival benefit as what we have seen in human transplant,\u201d Locke said. <\/p>\n

She speaks with Looney almost daily and said her patient is \u201cliving her best life.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the moment I saw that kidney start to make urine in the operating room that day to seeing her that evening after surgery, and she already had this vibrant, I mean, her cheeks had a rose color to them. She was more alive. Her family could see it,\u201d Locke said. \u201cThe joy and the hope that was restored was just tremendous.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hope for thousands of patients<\/h2>\n

\u201cAs soon as I woke up after the surgery, the cloud of dialysis disappeared,\u201d Andrews said in a statement from eGenesis. \u201cI felt re-energized and revitalized. It was a miracle. The magnitude of what these doctors and nurses accomplished is unbelievable and I want to thank them for giving me a new lease on life.\u201d <\/p>\n

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