The world's first transplantation of a genetically engineered pig's heart into a patient with end-stage heart disease was performed in the United States.
The transplanted patient was reported to be recovering for the third day without immediate rejection.
The AP, AFP news media, and the New York Times (NYT) reported yesterday (10th) local time, the University of Maryland Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical Center researchers agreed to the consent of 57-year-old David Bennett, a terminally ill heart disease patient who has no other options because he did not receive a human organ transplant. It was reported that he underwent a transplant on the 7th.
It is still too early to determine whether or not it will be successful, but the patient is recovering three days after the operation and the transplanted organ is now functioning normally like a human heart.
Medical staff expect success in the absence of immediate rejection, which is the biggest problem with animal organ transplants.
This operation was carried out after a research team at New York University's Langon Health Medical Center transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney into a brain-dead patient suffering from renal failure in October last year and confirmed that it was functioning normally without rejection.
Foreign media expected that if this operation was successful, it would be an epochal achievement that would speed up the resolution of the shortage of organs for transplantation.
"It's beating, blood pressure is coming up. This is his heart," said Dr. Bartley P. Griffiths, who performed the operation. "He's working properly and it seems normal. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I've never been able to get to this stage." said.
"This groundbreaking surgery brings us one step closer to solving the problem of organ shortages," he added. .
For this transplant, a pig heart engineered with 10 genes was used, such as removing a gene for a sugar component in pig organ cells that causes an immediate rejection of the human immune system when transplanted into the human body.
Levicor, a Virginia-based biotechnology company, has removed three genes that cause the body's immune system to reject it and one gene that causes excessive growth of pig heart tissue.
In addition, six human genes that play a role in receiving external organs from the human body were inserted into the pig genome.
The university said patient Bennett the day before the surgery, "All that's left is to die or get a pig heart transplant. I want to live. I know it's an attempt with an unknown chance of success, but surgery is my last option. I can get out of bed after recovering." I look forward to it,” he said.
This heart transplant was not performed as a normal treatment procedure.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and FDA approved emergency surgery on December 31, last year, through the 'extended access' clause.
This provision allows the use of experimental drugs or treatments, such as genetically engineered pig hearts, when life-threatening patients have no other option, such as a serious disease.
This heart transplant is different from the kidney transplant of genetically engineered pigs in October last year.
New York University's kidney transplant is also considered an important achievement in xenogeneic liver transplantation research, but it was only at the level of connecting a pig kidney from the outside to a patient's blood vessel before removing the life support device of the brain dead.
However, this operation at the University of Maryland is a case that confirmed that the heart was implanted in the patient's body and that it was working normally.
This pig heart transplant by the University of Maryland research team is considered a step forward in New York University's achievements.
This isn't the first time a xenogeneic organ transplant has been attempted.
In 1984, an infant who received a heart transplant from a baboon survived for 21 days, but eventually died of rejection.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the New York University research team, said, "This surgery is a truly groundbreaking breakthrough. gave," he said.
There is a worldwide shortage of organs for transplantation that depend on donations.
For this reason, many scientists have been challenged for decades in research to transplant organs, such as pigs, into humans, which are similar in organ size to humans.
According to the US federal government organ donation statistics, there are currently 110,000 patients waiting for organ donation, but more than 6,000 people die every year because of an absolute shortage of donated organs.
According to the Organ Sharing Coalition Network, which monitors U.S. organ transplantation systems, 41,354 people in the U.S. received an organ last year, half of them donated kidneys, and only 3,817 people donated hearts.
Research on the production of organs for transplantation using genetic pigs has been regarded as the most promising alternative to solving the problem of organ shortage as gene editing and cloning technologies have rapidly developed over the past decade.
Researchers hope that this method will usher in a new era in medicine, especially when it comes to providing enough organs for transplantation to desperate patients awaiting transplantation of kidneys and other organs.