Doctors have transplanted a pig liver into a human in a world first.
The patient, a 71-year-old man, lived for almost half a year after the procedure.
The man’s own liver had irreversible scarring caused by a hepatitis B infection and liver cancer.
As a result, he was not eligible for a human liver transplant.
This is the first time that a liver from a genetically-modified pig has been transplanted in a human for therapeutic purposes.
Two cases have previously been reported in brain-dead patients as part of preparatory work.
Writing in the Journal of Hepatology, the researchers said they have found that genetically-modified pig livers “can support key metabolic and synthetic functions in humans”.
Scientists in China described how they implanted an auxiliary graft from a genetically-modified Diannan miniature pig.
The gene edits were designed to enhance organ compatibility with humans.
For the first month, the doctors found that the graft “functioned effectively”.
But on day 38, the graft was removed following complications linked to the transplant – a condition called xenotransplantation- associated thrombotic microangiopathy (xTMA).
The researchers reported that treatment resolved the xTMA, but despite this, the patient died 171 days after the transplant.
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