A man from China underwent the first transplantation of a genetically modified pig lung.
However, the 39-year-old man did not live to see the operation due to diagnosed brain death. However, the transplanted pig lung lived in his body for 9 days.
Similar experiments with people, diagnosed with brain death, were conducted in the United States. They used not only lungs, as well as the heart and kidneys. And in previous trials in China, pork liver was used.
These trials make the prospect of human organ transplants of a pig is even more realistic. The last operation to transplant a pig lung into a human was performed in Guangzhou. The team confirmed the patient’s brain death with four different examination methods and obtained written informed consent from his family to conduct the experiment. This is the first known attempt by doctors to conduct lung xenotransplantation — transplanting lungs from another species of living creature into a person.
“Lung xenotransplantation has unique biological and technical challenges, compared to other organs”, — explains the study’s co-author, is a doctor at the Department of Organ Transplantation at the First Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Jiang Shi.
The authors of the study emphasize, that its purpose was to test the reaction of the human immune system to such a transplant. The method is not yet ready for use in living humans and is at the stage of preclinical research.
Despite the fact, that the transplanted organ remained viable for 9 days, the first signs of rejection appeared a day after transplantation. The experiment was completed on the 9th day at the request of the patient’s family. It is not clear from the report, how long the lung would have lasted, if it had been left for a longer period, but by day 9 the organ has already suffered serious damage.
The experiment used a pig lung genetically modified, using CRISPR gene editing technology. The editing was carried out by Chengdu-based Clonorgan Biotechnology. Three pig genes have been deactivated, so that the proteins, they encode, do not activate the immune system in the human body. Three human genes were also added to make the organ more tolerated by the human body.
In May 2024, a team of transplant surgeons removed the left lung from a pig and transplanted it into a patient, who had previously been diagnosed with brain death. Immunosuppressants were administered to the patient the day before the surgery and taken daily after it.
The doctors did not observe any signs of acute rejection, which should have appeared immediately after the transplant. Signs of rejection began to appear about 24 hours later, in the form of swelling and inflammation. Already on the third day after the operation, the immune system developed antibodies to the transplanted organ, which partially damaged it.
According to the researchers, in future experiments, it will probably be useful to block the action of specific immune cells, as well as inhibit certain signaling molecules that increase inflammation. The lungs are not easy to deal with in this regard, as they are in constant contact with the outside air and contain a large number of proteins, responsible for immune defenseIn addition, their tissues, which exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, are very sensitive, so any immune attack, directed against them, can be very powerful.
According to the current study, it is unclear, how well a pig lung could support a patient, if they were taken off life support. Future research may improve the approach to lung xenotransplantation and bring it closer to clinical application.
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