Groundbreaking: First Genetically Modified Human Kidney Transplant Succeeds
The first genetically modified human kidney transplant was performed by doctors on Thursday.
The four-hour operation was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturday. This hospital was the first to perform a transplant of a kidney in 1954.
The patient Rick Slayman is doing well. He’s a 62 year old manager at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Rick was diagnosed with kidney disease in its end stage.
Doctors told the patient that his new kidney would last for years, but acknowledged that animal-to human transplants are not without their unknowns.
Slayman stated in a statement released by the hospital that he has been a transplant patient at the hospital for 11 years. In 2018, he received a kidney donated by a human after suffering from diabetes and high blood-pressure for years. Five years later, the kidney started to fail and he began dialysis.
He said that when he was told he had end-stage renal disease last year, his doctors recommended that he use a pig’s kidney.
Slayman stated in a statement that he saw the procedure as not only a means to help himself, but also a way of giving hope to the thousands who desperately need a kidney transplant to live.
The surgery was hailed as a medical milestone by doctors who weren’t involved.
“To finally see the fruition of this work after years of collaboration and hard work is a big step forward and a wonderful moment for transplant,” Dr. Parsia Vagifi, chief surgeon of surgical transplantation at UT Southwest Medical Center in Dallas.
The most beautiful kidney that I’ve ever seen
Dr. Tatsuo Kawai said that the size of the pig kidney was the same as the human kidney.
Kawai stated that when they connected its blood vessels with Slayman’s it “pinked-up” and started to produce urine. He said that the 15-member team of transplant surgeons in the operating rooms erupted into applause.
Kawai, who was speaking at a press conference on Thursday that was emotionally charged for some of the doctors who had worked on the research throughout their careers, said: “It was the most beautiful kidney I’ve ever seen.”
A doctor cried as he thanked his patient, colleagues and biotech partners. One of his colleagues put a hand to his shoulder and told him, “You’ve done it.”
Organs are in short supply. In the US, kidneys are in short supply, with 17 people dying every day while waiting for an organ. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network reports that approximately 27,000 kidneys will be transplanted by 2023. However, nearly 89,000 people are on the waiting list for these organs.
Experts say that xenotransplants, or the transplantation of animal organs to humans, are essential for solving the organ shortage.
In a news briefing, Dr. Winfred William, associate chief of Mass General’s Department of Nephrology, said that the new technology could also be a breakthrough in solving racial discrimination in access to kidney transplants.
This is the third transplantation of a pig’s organ to a human. The first two transplants were of hearts into people who were still alive and had no other options for transplant. Organs were transplanted in accordance with special rules which allow compassionate use of experimental therapy for people who are in dire situations. Both patients died a few weeks after receiving their transplanted organs.
Researchers at Mass General Brigham say that while the latest advancement is important, further research – and ideally an extensive study at multiple hospitals – are needed to understand how successful pig kidney transplants can be.
“Our hope is to make dialysis obsolete,” said Dr. Leonardo Riella. He is the medical director for kidney transplantation at Mass General. “Dialysis is like a ventilator to a patient who has respiratory failure.” It’s a temporary solution. If they are healthy enough, a permanent one, such as a human or xenotransplant, could be available.
Williams said Slayman was his patient for over a decade prior to the surgery.
He said that the xenotransplant was a good idea for Slayman who had “great difficulties” with dialysis. The blood vessels feeding the dialysis machines were often clotted due to vascular disease, diabetes, and high blood blood pressure.
Slayman required more and more interventions in order to remove the clots. He estimated that he underwent 30 to 40 procedures in order to resolve the problem.
At one point, I heard him tell me that he didn’t think he could continue. He said literally, “I don’t believe I can continue like this.” Williams said, “I don’t want this to continue.
Williams explained that he then began exploring extraordinary options, and came up with the idea to use pig organs as a substitute for Slayman.
The milestones of the past decade
The organ was taken from a pig which had been genetically modified to be more compatible with a person by a company called eGenesis Bio. Other companies are working on making pig organs and tissues suitable for xenotransplants.
In the 1600s , experiments involving blood and skin were conducted on humans.
In the 1960s, researchers began pursuing the goal of pig kidney transplantation to humans.
They noted that although pig kidneys were remarkably similar to the human kidneys, it was not easy to figure out how to stop the immune system from rejecting these kidneys.
Dr. Joren M. Madsen, Director of the Mass General Transplant Center, said: “The human immune response to a pig’s organ is much more violent than that to an organ from a person.”
Madsen pointed out that if the same drugs used to prevent rejection of human organs were given to a person and they tried it on pig kidneys “that transplant will reject and turn dark in minutes.” Minutes.”
Madsen stated that there are three major advances which have made xenotransplantation possible.
eGenesis used CRISPR-Cas9 to edit pig DNA in 69 specific places – some areas snipping out things, others adding things – to stop the human body from recognizing pig kidneys and rejecting the organs. The scientists knocked out genes for sugars expressed on the surface pig cells, which can be detected by antibodies from humans and attack them. The researchers also used gene-editing to deactivate retroviruses in pigs that could reactivate and infect people.
Second: Pharmaceutical companies have been able to create monoclonal anti-bodies that are specifically designed to prevent rejection of pig’s organs.
Madsen concluded that they had been able to test the pig organs on non-human animals to determine the best protocol to transfer the technology to humans.
In a news release, Dr. Michael Curtis CEO of eGenesis said, “This successful procedure heralds a brand new era in medical science in which we can eliminate organ supply as a hurdle to transplantation, and achieve our vision that no one dies while waiting for an organ.”
He said: “We are humbled and impressed by the courage and generosity shown by this patient. She is a pioneer in transplant medicine and science, and has enabled this breakthrough.”
