The kidney worked from the transplanted pig to the human first

It is the first of its kind in the world that can change the lives of many waiting patients planting. A trial was conducted at NYU Langone Hospital in New York, consisting of a kidney transplant from a
pig Genetically modified humans. Or rather, in this context, to the vessels of the brain of a dead person with the consent of his family.

The kidneys “worked well” during the two-and-a-half days of the experiment, said Robert Montgomery, director of the New York University Langone Transplant Institute, adding that they “excreted urine.” The patient’s life support was discontinued after 54 hours, ending the trial, but showed no sign of rejection.

90,000 Americans are waiting for a kidney transplant

Pork organs, physiologically similar to humans, are already used for certain procedures, such as heart valve replacement or skin grafts. But the human body contains antibodies that attack a type of sugar that is naturally present “on all pig cells”, causing an “immediate rejection” of the organ in normal times. Hence the genetic modification of the pig free of this sugar.

“What would have happened after three weeks, three months, three years, remains a question,” Robert Montgomery acknowledges. A pig kidney transplant on a monkey had already been successful for a year. The A doctorEnthusiast hopes to expand clinical trials in the medium term. “I think people, especially those who are waiting (…), will see this as a potential miracle. That is the case for 90,000 Americans today.