US Man Still Alive Six Months After Pig Kidney Transplant (nature.com)
- Reference: 0179089082
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/08/1727212/us-man-still-alive-six-months-after-pig-kidney-transplant
- Source link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02851-w
> Researchers say the outcome is a landmark case of successful xenotransplantation -- the process of transplanting organs from animals to humans. The recipient, Tim Andrews, had end-stage kidney disease and had been receiving dialysis for more than two years before he underwent the surgery in January. He has been dialysis-free since receiving the kidney. Andrews was one of three patients to receive genetically modified pig kidneys supplied by the biotechnology company eGenesis in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on compassionate grounds.
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> Reaching six months' survival is an amazing feat, says Wayne Hawthorne, a transplant surgeon at the University of Sydney in Australia. The first six months is the period of "highest risk for the patient and also the transplant," he adds. Possible complications include anaemia and graft rejection, when the immune system attacks the new organ. "The six-month time point marks that things have gone extremely well," Hawthorne says. Reaching 12 months would be another milestone and a "fantastic long-term outcome," he adds. Previously, the recipient with longest-surviving genetically modified pig organ was a 53-year-old US woman, Towana Looney, who had a functioning pig kidney for four months and nine days. However, the organ was removed earlier this year because her immune system began to reject it.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02851-w
hepatoholster (Score:2)
Next step, just route the tubes outside the skin and put some ports on them and we'll plug in a new kidney every four to six months. At long last, a dignified reason to wear a fanny pack!
Re:hepatoholster (Score:4)
There is no dignified reason to wear a fanny pack.
Re: (Score:2)
> There is no dignified reason to wear a fanny pack.
Tell that to my high school self.
...please?
But... (Score:5, Funny)
...how's the pig?
Re:But... (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry about it, it's living happily ever after on a farm upstate.
Re:But... (Score:5, Funny)
> ...how's the pig?
Delicious on rye bread with some mayonnaise.
Pig Priorities. (Score:4, Funny)
> A 67-year-old US man is still alive more than six months after receiving a kidney from a genetically modified pig. This is the longest a pig organ has survived in a living person.
Whew. For a minute there I thought we humans might actually be more concerned about measuring the longest a human has survived with a pig organ.
Good thing we know that pig organs can survive. Now we can make bacon live forever. Or until we get hungry.
Re: (Score:2)
They just need to figure out how to have tissues regrow quickly. Carve off a hunk'o'pig and let it regrow, come back later for more!
Re: (Score:3)
I think the phrasing is correct. If the transplanted organ failed, the patient could conceivably have it removed and go back on dialysis.
Organ rejection rate diminish with age over 60 (Score:4, Informative)
That is probably the only advantage of aging in that transplanted organs have a lower rejection rate among those over 60. "Interestingly, and in support of âoeimmunological matchingâ between donor and recipients, rejection rates of older organs are lower when transplanted into older recipients than younger ones (29)."
[1]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a... [nih.gov] However, older transplant recipients succumb to more infections and are more susceptible to post-transplant malignancies
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5490761/
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, the same thing that enables cancer will let your transplant survive attacks. At a certain point, you have so many non-cancerous mutations that you need a lot of leeway to recognize which cells are really you.
Just needs something from a bear (Score:2)
ManBearPig is real!
Summary (Score:2)
It is a pity the article is for once correctly summarized. Else someone could have posted "of course the guy is still alive, it's the pig who received the kidney !"
So that is where all the Offal Went (Score:2)
I've been looking everywhere and can't find pig liver or kidneys in UK Supermarkets for two years in a row. They told me it was due to lack of demand ... Bollocks!
Re: (Score:2)
These pigs are genetically modified, so the UK wouldn't import them anyways!
Not sure how'd I feel about this (Score:2)
Congratulations, we don't have real organs for you, but this pig organ will keep you alive, in fact, we didn't think you'd last this long!
Sweet! (Score:4, Insightful)
We might be able to get a kidney and pork chops!
Re: (Score:1)
Not if you're Muslim.
Re: Sweet! (Score:2)
Pig as in porcine, not rsilvergun. Besides, human kidneys only come with a 90 day warranty. If you lose your graft after 90 days, you start over on the wait list. I'd wager porcine kidneys carry no such limitation.