MAN GETS GENETICALLY-MODIFIED PIG HEART IN WORLD-FIRST TRANSPLANT

  • 12/01/2022

A man from the United States has become the world's first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically engineered pig. 

Doctors say David Bennett, 57, is doing well three days after the seven-hour experimental treatment in Baltimore. Mr Bennett's life was thought to be on the verge of being saved by the transplant, albeit it is unclear how long he will live. 

The "historic" treatment took performed on Friday, according to a statement released by the University of Maryland Medical School. While the patient's prognosis is uncertain, it is a significant step forward for animal-to-human transplantation.

David Bennett, the patient, had been ruled ineligible for a human transplant, a decision that is frequently made when the recipient's condition is extremely poor. Now that he's recovered, he'll be closely followed to see how the new organ works. 

Bennett's donor pig came from a herd that had gone through genetic modification.

Three genes that would have caused humans to reject pig organs, as well as a gene that would have caused excessive growth of pig heart tissue, were "knocked out."

Six human genes involved in human acceptance were introduced into the genome, totaling ten distinct gene alterations.

Revivicor, a Virginia-based biotech firm that previously donated the pig used in a groundbreaking kidney transplant on a brain dead patient in New York in October, did the alteration. 

However, unlike the previous surgery, which was only a proof-of-concept experiment in which the kidney was linked outside the patient's body, the new procedure is meant to save a person's life.

The scientists employed an investigational new medicine developed by Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals coupled with standard anti-rejection drugs to suppress the immune system, which was preserved in an organ-preservation machine prior to surgery.

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