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Surgeons Test Pig Kidney Transplant On A Human

Ascalon

Justified & Ancient
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Jul 3, 2009
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US surgeons say they have successfully given a pig's kidney to a person in a transplant breakthrough they hope could ultimately solve donor organ shortages.
The recipient was brain-dead, meaning they were already on artificial life support with no prospect of recovering.
The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically modified to stop the organ being recognised by the body as "foreign" and being rejected.
The work is not yet peer-reviewed or published but there are plans for this.
Experts say it is the most advanced experiment in the field so far.
Similar tests have been done in non-human primates, but not people, until now.

Using pigs for transplants is not a new idea though. Pig heart valves are already widely used in humans.
And their organs are a good match for people when it comes to size.

Via BBC News

This is an incredible achievement, and hopefully will stand up long term.
I'd love to hear more detail of the genetic modification of the pig that allowed the donor tissue it not to be rejected.
 

US surgeons say they have successfully given a pig's kidney to a person in a transplant breakthrough they hope could ultimately solve donor organ shortages.
The recipient was brain-dead, meaning they were already on artificial life support with no prospect of recovering.
The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically modified to stop the organ being recognised by the body as "foreign" and being rejected.
The work is not yet peer-reviewed or published but there are plans for this.
Experts say it is the most advanced experiment in the field so far.
Similar tests have been done in non-human primates, but not people, until now.

Using pigs for transplants is not a new idea though. Pig heart valves are already widely used in humans.
And their organs are a good match for people when it comes to size.

Via BBC News

This is an incredible achievement, and hopefully will stand up long term.
I'd love to hear more detail of the genetic modification of the pig that allowed the donor tissue it not to be rejected.
I heard the surgeon who dd this talking about in on R4 t'other day. Fantastic work.
 
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I guess this might be the first successful transplant of an untreated pig organ, but some body parts from pigs have been transplanted before.
My Dad had a heart valve from a pig transplanted into him twice. That heart valve had been 'denatured' - i.e. any pig DNA that was in it had been killed somehow.
 
I guess this might be the first successful transplant of an untreated pig organ, but some body parts from pigs have been transplanted before.
My Dad had a heart valve from a pig transplanted into him twice. That heart valve had been 'denatured' - i.e. any pig DNA that was in it had been killed somehow.

As mentioned in the Sasquatch thread, humans and pigs are basically 98% genetically identical, so would that even be necessary to "denature" it? I wonder why?
 
As mentioned in the Sasquatch thread, humans and pigs are basically 98% genetically identical, so would that even be necessary to "denature" it? I wonder why?
I have no idea why. Perhaps just a precaution?
 
Yeah, I guess so, but a precaution against what? Rejection, possibly?
I think so. They did put him on anti-rejection medication as well. He had to take a LOT of pills daily.
 
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