Massachusetts Common Hospital has carried out its second profitable genetically edited pig kidney transplant right into a affected person, MGH reported on Friday.
The “miracle” transplant is giving 66-year-old Tim Andrews “a new lease on life,” he stated as he’s now recovering and off dialysis for the primary time in additional than two years.
The two.5-hour xenotransplant was carried out final month by surgeons on the Mass Common Transplant Middle.
Andrews, of Harmony, N.H., has end-stage kidney illness. The dialysis therapy has taken a major toll on his day by day life — leaving him feeling consistently fatigued and unable to maintain up together with his typical actions.
He additionally confronted extreme issues, together with a coronary heart assault in July 2023. His path to a kidney transplant was additional sophisticated by his O-group blood sort, which considerably prolonged his wait time.
Whereas most sufferers wait 3 to five years for a kidney, these with O-positive or O-negative blood sorts typically wait 5 to 10 years, making their possibilities of receiving a donor organ much more troublesome.
“As soon as I woke up after the surgery, the cloud of dialysis disappeared,” Andrews stated. “I felt re-energized and revitalized. It was a miracle. The magnitude of what these doctors and nurses accomplished is unbelievable and I want to thank them for giving me a new lease on life.
“But this transplant isn’t about me,” he added. “It’s about all the people who I met at the dialysis clinic, and I saw what they were going through. There are more than 500,000 people on dialysis, and I want to inspire them to never give up hope because that’s what this transplant provides. It’s a glimmer of hope.”
Andrews is now the fourth particular person on the earth to obtain a genetically-edited pig kidney, and is one among two folks presently residing with one.
This transplant comes lower than a yr after MGH grew to become the primary hospital on the earth to transplant a genetically-edited pig kidney right into a residing human. Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, final March had the primary pig kidney transplant; he died about two months after the process.
The pig kidney was supplied by Cambridge-based eGenesis, from a pig donor that was genetically-edited utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 know-how to take away dangerous pig genes, and add sure human genes to enhance its compatibility with people.
“I am extremely proud of our surgical and clinical teams for taking on this endeavor and completing it with great precision and professionalism,” stated Shimul Shah, division chief of Transplant and medical director of the Mass Common Transplant Middle.
“Their work is a testament to the high standards set at the Mass General Transplant Center, their tireless efforts to advance the field of transplantation, and tremendous energy to find solutions to the worldwide organ shortage,” Shah added. “I also want to thank our patient for his willingness to undergo this transplant. None of this would have been possible without him, and we are grateful for his enthusiasm for spreading awareness of xenotransplantation.”
The process was carried out underneath the FDA Expanded Entry Protocol, generally often known as compassionate use. This pathway permits sufferers with critical, life-threatening diseases or circumstances to entry experimental remedies when no comparable choices can be found.
Final December, MGH obtained FDA approval to proceed with this transplant and plans to carry out two extra xenotransplants this yr, additional advancing the sector of xenotransplantation.
“This second xenotransplant provides us with another excellent opportunity to learn how we can make genetically-edited pig organs a viable, long-term solution for patients,” stated lead surgeon Tatsuo Kawai, director of the Legorreta Middle for Medical Transplant Tolerance. “Although we have a long way to go to make that a reality, this transplant is an important next step that has given us optimism to achieve that goal.”
