Alabama grandmother receives gene-edited pig kidney, gets a new lease of life

In a historic procedure, a 53-year-old Alabama woman has become the third person to receive a

gene-edited pig kidney

, a New York hospital announced on Tuesday. She is the only living person with an animal

organ transplant

currently. The groundbreaking procedure offers new hope in the fight against the

organ shortage crisis

. “It’s a blessing,” said

Towana Looney

in a press statement, published three weeks after the procedure at

NYU Langone

.
Looney had donated a kidney to her mother in 1999, while the second one failed post developing a high blood pressure from a pregnancy condition. She had been undergoing dialysis since December 2016, a span of eight years, but a transplant was not an option due to her unusually high levels of harmful antibodies, which would cause her immune system to reject a human kidney.
This was the reason, the Food and Drug Administration made an exception to its usual clinical study requirements to allow her to get a pig kidney that’s been genetically modified to be accepted by her body. Also, her body gradually lost accessible blood vessels to support dialysis, leaving her quite frail.

The FDA had previously approved the transplantation of genetically modified pig kidneys into two patients in New York and Boston, as well as pig hearts into two men in Maryland. While the organs initially functioned well, the patients were already gravely ill with multiple health complications and only survived for weeks or months after the procedures.

It is the third instance of a gene-edited pig kidney being transplanted into a living human. Rick Slayman, 62, was the first person to get it, but could only survive for two months after the procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Lisa Pasano was the second patient to undergo the transplant at NYU Langone, where she also received a heart pump. Unfortunately, after showing signs of recovery, she had to return to dialysis after 47 days and passed away subsequently in July.
“Without the generosity and altruism of those who participated in our research up to this point, this next step in

xenotransplantation

would not have been possible,” said Robert Montgomery, who led the seven-hour procedure on November 25.
“Towana’s case is a precursor to potential clinical trials, under the FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration’s) guidance, to determine if these organs are safe as a new, sustainable source of organs for those who need them.”
Looney has been discharged on December 6 to an apartment in New York City, although she may have to undergo periodic inpatient administration of medicine as her immune system adjusts to her new organ.

What is xenotransplantation

Xenotransplantation involves transplanting live cells, tissues, or organs from animals into humans or using human materials that have been in contact with animal cells. It is being developed to address the critical shortage of human organs for transplantation, with ten patients dying daily in the U.S. while waiting for life-saving transplants.
Additionally, xenotransplantation shows promise for treating conditions like neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes, where human cells and tissues are often unavailable. However, it raises significant public health concerns, particularly the risk of cross-species infections, such as retroviruses, which may remain latent and cause disease years later. New infectious agents may also evade current detection methods, posing further risks to recipients and the general population.