Chinese researchers have announced a successful pig kidney transplant performed on a patient. They also reported taking new steps in the quest for organ transplantation from animals to humans, hinting at the potential benefits of pig livers.

A Chinese patient became the third known person in the world to live with a genetically modified pig kidney.

The Chinese research team also reported a pig liver transplant on a person who underwent brain death. Scientists are genetically modifying pigs to make their organs more similar to humans’ in hopes of alleviating the shortage of organ donations. The first two xenotransplantations in the US (including two pig hearts and two pig kidneys) were short-lived. However, so far, two recipients of pig kidneys have been successful. These are a woman who underwent surgery in November and a man in January.

“KIDNEY WORKING VERY WELL” Dr. Lin Wang from the Fourth Military Medical University Xijing Hospital in Xi’an stated to journalists this week that around three weeks after the kidney surgery, the Chinese patient was doing very well, and the pig kidney was working very effectively as well. Wang, who is part of the xenotransplant team at the hospital, mentioned that the kidney recipient was staying in the hospital for tests. The Chinese media reported that the recipient is a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with kidney failure eight years ago.

LIVER NEXT IN LINE However, Wang indicated a potential next step in xenotransplantation; learning how to transplant pig livers.

His team reported yesterday in the journal Nature that a pig liver transplanted into a person who experienced brain death survived for ten days without showing any early signs of rejection.

Wang mentioned that the pig liver produces bile and albumin, which are essential for basic organ functions, although not as much as human livers. He said, “We found that a pig liver could partially function in a human.” Wang predicts that it would be enough to assist a failing human liver. Last year, surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA tried a similar “bridge” support by connecting an externally-placed pig liver to a brain-dead human body to filter blood, akin to dialysis for failing kidneys. American pig developer eGenesis is examining this approach.

“MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS”

In China, Wang’s team did not replace the deceased person’s own liver but instead placed the pig liver alongside it. Dr. Parsia Vagefi, a liver transplant surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center not involved in the study, stated that this situation “muddies the waters.” Vagefi said, “Hopefully, this is a first step, but as with any good research, there are more questions than answers.” Wang stated that his team later replaced another person’s human liver with a pig liver after brain death and analyzed the result. Reports in the media stated that another Chinese hospital conducted a pig liver transplant on a living patient after taking a piece of their cancerous liver, but the outcome remains unknown.