First successful pig liver transplant to a living person

Chinese scientists have just successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig liver into a 71-year-old man with right lobe liver cancer.

According to a statement from China's First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University, this is the world's first pig liver transplant surgery for a living person. 7 days after the transplant, the patient could move freely without any acute rejection reactions occurring, and without blood clotting abnormalities. Liver function returned to normal, with a daily level of bile secretion of approximately 200 ml.

The liver transplant was carried out on May 17 by the team of Professor Ton Beicheng from the First Affiliated Hospital in collaboration with the team of Professor Wei Hongjiang from Yunnan Agricultural University. Doctors removed the patient's giant right liver tumor. They confirmed that the left lobe was no longer strong enough to meet the needs of liver function. Therefore, the surgical team used a 514g liver from an 11-month-old pig, edited with 10 genes to transplant to the patient. The pig was raised by a research team at Yunnan Agricultural University.

Professor Ton Bac Thanh applied a new method to transplant the lobe into the patient's right liver cavity by rotating the liver 45 degrees.

"This is a milestone in the technique of xenogeneic pig liver transplantation on living humans, paving the way for complete transplantation in the future ," said Professor Ton Bac Thanh.

Doctors are transplanting a pig liver to a 71-year-old patient at Affiliated Hospital Number One, May 17. (Photo: First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University).

Previously, the patient was given treatments for right lobe liver cancer but were ineffective and risked bone fracture if not treated quickly. On humanitarian principles, with the consent of the patient and family members, the doctors established an academic committee to approve and conduct the xenotransplantation .

The surgery facilitated the establishment of global standards for porcine liver transplantation, use of immunosuppressants, and perioperative management of xenotransplantation. This helps bring similar surgeries into clinical practice.

Previously, doctors at the Chinese Air Force Medical University Hospital successfully transplanted a pig liver into a brain-dead person. Gene-edited pig livers were transplanted into brain-dead people to simulate treatment for liver failure patients. This transplant aims to serve research on the therapeutic potential of xenotransplantation, providing a theoretical basis and additional data for future clinical practice.

The anatomical and physiological functions of the liver are more complex than those of the kidney and heart, so the gene-edited pig liver cannot completely replace the human liver. Other countries around the world have not had similar pig liver transplants. In the United States, the pioneer country in allogeneic organ transplantation, only kidney and pig heart transplants have been performed for humans. Three pig heart and kidney transplant patients have passed away, currently a woman with a pig kidney transplant is being monitored at the hospital.