![]() ![]() There is an acute shortage of organs in our country with the most common organ being the kidney. Kidney disease kills more people each year than breast or prostate cancer, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Why is this significant? How does this change the future of transplant? Being able to test this in a brain-dead human before it goes into a living person is remarkable and allows us to capture key safety end points.” There are many diseases we need to understand and work through new techniques and devices. “Without question this study has established brain death as a pre-clinical human model to study the human condition, extending far beyond xenotransplantation. “We were able to model every step of the process was exactly as it would be done if it was a phase I clinical trial, which is why we feel confident in its success,” Locke said. Importantly, the study simulates how this type of transplant would be performed in a living human. The study was conducted with the permission of an Alabama family and has provided important safety information. UAB achieved the first inside-the-body transplant of genetically modified pig kidneys. “We have a long way to go before xenotransplantation is available to the masses, but we will push forward into the phase of making this breakthrough treatment a reality.”Īs the science of xenotransplantation moves forward, many questions have been raised of what the future holds. “While these positive results demonstrate how xenotransplantation could address the worldwide organ shortage crisis - more than 800,000 Americans who live with kidney failure and more than 90,000 who are waiting for a kidney transplant - there is much curiosity surrounding what this procedure looks like and what it means for the future of science in this field,” said Jayme Locke, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute in UAB’s Department of Surgery and lead surgeon for the study. The kidneys remained viable until the study was ended, 77 hours after transplant. The transplanted kidneys filtered blood, produced urine and, importantly, were not immediately rejected. This process demonstrates the long-term viability of the procedure and how such a transplant might work in the real world. ![]() The organs were procured from a genetically modified pig at a pathogen-free facility. The study recipient had two genetically modified pig kidneys transplanted in his abdomen after his native kidneys were removed. The University of Alabama at Birmingham recently announced the first peer-reviewed research outlining the successful transplant of genetically modified, clinical-grade pig kidneys into a brain-dead human. Researchers and surgeons have been working towards viable xenotransplant options for decades, in the hopes of being able to save more live and improve the quality of life of their patients. Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of organs or tissues from an animal source into a human recipient. Graphic: Jody PotterThe word xenotransplantation - or the concept of it - is new to most people and many have lingering questions for its future.
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