In a groundbreaking advancement for medical science, Chinese surgeons have achieved a significant milestone by performing the world”s first transplant of a gene-edited pig liver into a human patient. The operation took place on May 17, 2024, and the patient, a 71-year-old male with an inoperable liver tumor, survived for 171 days following the procedure.
This innovative surgery, detailed in a recent publication in the Journal of Hepatology, is a crucial step towards addressing the ongoing shortage of human donor organs. The procedure was led by a team from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, with the pig liver engineered by researchers at Yunnan Agricultural University.
The donor pig underwent a total of ten genetic modifications. The surgical team removed three genes that typically trigger rapid antibody-mediated rejection in pig organs and inserted seven human genes to enhance immune acceptance and mitigate blood clotting risks, as outlined in the study.
During the procedure, the genetically modified pig liver was transplanted as an “auxiliary” organ, intended to support the patient”s native liver. This operation followed a previous case in April 2024, where another team of Chinese researchers successfully transplanted a genetically altered pig liver into a brain-dead patient at Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University located in Xi”an City, in northwestern China”s Shaanxi Province.
Initially, the results after the surgery were encouraging. For the first 31 days, the patient exhibited no signs of acute rejection, and the transplanted pig liver functioned effectively. However, complications arose on day 38 when the patient developed a serious condition characterized by blood clots in the small vessels of the transplanted organ, leading the clinical team to remove the auxiliary liver.
Following this, the patient experienced recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding and ultimately passed away on day 171. Despite the limited survival period, this case demonstrates the potential of a pig liver to function in a human patient for a clinically significant duration.
This achievement marks a substantial step forward in the field of xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting organs from one species to another, and positions pig livers as a possible temporary solution for patients awaiting human liver transplants. A review article in the journal noted, “This operation does not yet open the door to widespread clinical use of pig livers. But it does establish proof-of-concept that such grafts can function in humans.”
