A genetically modified pig kidney kept a man alive for 271 days without dialysis while he waited for a human kidney.Tim Andrews, 66, was suffering from end-stage kidney disease. After a long wait for a deceased donor tra…

A genetically modified pig kidney kept a man alive for 271 days without dialysis while he waited for a human kidney.Tim Andrews, 66, was suffering from end-stage kidney disease. After a long wait for a deceased donor transplant, he underwent xenotransplantation in 2025 at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The kidney functioned well for nine months, the longest dialysis-free survival after a porcine kidney xenotransplantation. It is the process of transplanting or infusing living cells, tissues, or organs from one species into a different species, most commonly from a non-human animal like a pig into a human. In a paper published on September 3 in The Lancet, doctors at the Massachusetts General Hospital detailed Andrews’ experience. Andrews received the genetically engineered pig kidney under an FDA Expanded Access Investigational New Drug application. He was monitored for kidney function, rejection, antibody development, and potential pig-to-human infection. The kidney started functioning immediately. There was an early episode of organ rejection, but it was treated. No pig pathogen detection was observed.However, in six months he developed microvascular injury and inflammation that caused organ failure. Luckily, by then a human kidney became available, allowing him to undergo a conventional transplant. Beyond dialysis: How kidney care is giving patients a second chanceThis unusual case shows a glimpse of how animal organs could one day help people survive the long wait for a human kidney transplant. “The organ shortage is the greatest crisis we have right now in transplantation,” said lead author Leonardo Riella, of the Centre for Transplantation Sciences and the Division of Nephrology at Mass General Brigham. “We know that the best treatment option for patients with end-stage kidney disease who have developed renal failure is transplantation, but we simply do not have enough human organs to transplant promptly. Our vision is that xenotransplantation could help address this gap—initially as a bridge to get patients off dialysis while they wait for a human donor kidney, and potentially, as we establish long-term safety and durability, as a destination therapy in its own right.”The world’s first porcine kidney xenotransplant to a living human recipient occurred in 2024 at Massachusetts General Hospital, with the patient surviving 52 days before death from cardiac causes unrelated to the transplant. No previous studies have documented xenograft survival beyond two months, a successful “bridge” to receipt of a human organ, or the mechanisms leading to late xenograft failure in living recipients.

Source: Deccan Herald