Tovana Looney donated one kidney to her mother in 1999, but the remaining kidney failed several years later due to pregnancy-related complications.
A 53-year-old Alabama man has now become the latest recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney — and is currently the only living person to have an animal organ transplant — a New York hospital announced Tuesday.
“It’s a blessing,” he said in a press statement published three weeks after the procedure at NYU Langone.
The field of xenotransplantation, long an elusive goal for science, is seeing renewed momentum as advances in gene editing and management of the immune system bring this once distant possibility closer to reality.
Advocates hope it could help ease the organ shortage crisis, with more than 100,000 Americans waiting for an organ, including more than 90,000 who need a kidney.
Looney had been on dialysis since December 2016 – for eight years – after high blood pressure caused by her pregnancy condition caused failure of her remaining kidney.
Although living donors receive high priority on the waiting list, finding a suitable match proved impossible due to her unusually high levels of harmful antibodies, making rejection highly likely.
Meanwhile, the blood vessels in her body that support dialysis gradually died out, leaving her increasingly weak.
Looney’s surgery is the third example of a gene-edited pig kidney being transplanted into a living human. First, Rick Slayman, 62, died in May, two months after his groundbreaking procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The second, grandmother Lisa Passano, had a transplant at NYU Langone, where she also received a heart pump.
Although he initially showed signs of improvement, he had to return to dialysis after 47 days and died in July.
Despite these challenges, researchers remain optimistic as they refine their techniques, work with better gene-edited pig kidneys, and select patients who are less severely ill.
“Without the generosity and altruism of those who have participated in our research up to this point, this next step in xenotransplantation would not have been possible,” said Robert Montgomery, who led the seven-hour process on Nov. 25.
“Tovana’s case is a precursor to potential clinical trials under the guidance of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to determine whether these organs are safe as a new, permanent source of organs for those in need.” who need them.”
The surgery was the seventh human xenotransplantation performed by Montgomery, who also performed the world’s first gene-edited pig-to-human organ transplant on a neurologically deceased patient on September 25, 2021.
Looney was discharged to a New York City apartment on December 6, although NYU Langone said that given his previous harmful antibodies “he may need to undergo periodic inpatient administration of the drug while his immune system recovers his Adapts to the new organ.”
He is expected to return home in three months.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
