WASHINGTON: A self-described science nerd is the latest American to get an experimental pig kidney transplant, at a crucial point in the quest to prove if animals organs really might save human lives.
The 54-year-old New Hampshire man is faring well after his June 14 operation, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced Monday.
“I really wanted to contribute to the science of it,” Bill Stewart, an athletic trainer from Dover, New Hampshire, told The Associated Press.
That’s not the only milestone the Mass General team is marking: A pig kidney has kept another New Hampshire man, Tim Andrews, off dialysis for a record seven months and counting. Until now, the longest that a gene-edited pig organ transplant was known to last was 130 days.
Based on lessons from the New Hampshire men and a handful of other one-off attempts, the Food and Drug Administration approved pig producer eGenesis to begin a rigorous study of kidney xenotransplants.
“Right now we have a bottleneck” in finding enough human organs, said Mass General kidney specialist Dr. Leonardo Riella, who will help lead the new clinical trial.
More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting. As an alternative, scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike, less likely to be immediately attacked and destroyed by people’s immune system.
