Surgeons transplant pig kidney into a patient (opens in new tab)

waiting for a kidney transplant while slogging through dialysis is a brutal experience, the mental and post physical struggle is mad real. I was lucky enough to match with a family member eventually. I can see how on some last resort shit why not try this.

The patients, the nurses, the surgeons, doctors, researchers.

Literally magic. The Indian god Ganesha for example has a head of an elephant and we humans are doing something similar.

What an amazing species we are when we are doing something positive.

It's my experience for those that left this world with kidney failure, that they have already lost when it comes to peaceful final days.

Maybe volunteering for this procedure makes the patient get prioritised for a human kidney transplant?

The alternative is certain death so not a lot to choose from

As others mentioned, there's no particular reason for the brain to be involved. But that didn't stop Alastair Reynolds from writing sentient pigs into the later sequels to Revelation Space, with that exact backstory. One of them is a major character in The Prefect (or whatever they renamed it to).

Quite amazing! Doubtful we'll see any Animal Farm animals. The modified genes are for mostly endothelial modifications.

>> The Yucatan miniature pig breed was chosen because its organ sizes are comparable to human organs28. In addition, pigs with OO blood type were selected to eliminate ABO blood-type incompatibilities29.

>> The pigs were engineered to carry 69 genomic edits, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated nonhomologous end joining and homology-directed repair30,31, and recombinase-mediated cassette exchange.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06594-4

Oh, where the sentient pigs have set this all up, but for reverse kidney transplants from humans to pigs, and we pay for it?

… does it? It’s a kidney, not a brain. Brain transplants from a pig seem like a pretty obviously bad idea.

I remember reading online a short sci-fi piece where people keep their own generically engineered pigs for spare parts, and the main character develops an affection for the animal (that is smart enough to almost talk). The story ends with him needing a transplant, and sitting in the mud with the pig, contemplating the choice he has before him.

Edit: In a more 'realistic' scenario, capitalism would ensure we were more remote from the ethical consequences of our consumerism.

I don’t feel like that’s the most important thing. If we can farm kidneys for folks with kidney failure, rather than rely on a combination of the kindness of live donors and harvesting organs from corpses, it will be a huge step forward, even if recipients still need immunosuppressants (as they do with human organs).

I do wonder if the immunosuppressants for cross-species organs have to be stronger/nastier than for intra-species organs though.

Anyone who gets a transplant needs to take immunosuppressants for the rest of their life (except some older patients with liver transplants many years post transplant).

In general for many patients, immunosuppressants have relatively little impact on daily life.

Source: liver transplant recipient.

It does at the end of the article: "The procedure was performed under a Food and Drug Administration protocol known as a compassionate use provision, which is granted to patients with life-threatening illness who might benefit from an unapproved treatment. New drugs to suppress the immune system and prevent rejection of the organ were also used under the protocol."

It does mention that? Read the whole article.

Even if not successful, it's fascinating and a necessary step along the way to something that is successful.

Good luck to the guy though!

The hearts lasted weeks, about 2 months. The test primate for the kidney lasted 2 years, which would be impressive.

It’d be best if everyone just offered to be an organ donor.

I have CKD and need a transplant. I'm keeping an eye on this progress. I hope I get to eat the rest of the pig when I wake up from the surgery, myself. Mmmmm bacon!

I don’t think you’d want to eat severely genetically modified pigs though. Who know what kinds of viruses can make the jump to humans in a chimera like that. Ideally those pigs would be kept in some kind of sterile biohazard location and their bodies would ideally be incinerated afterwards.

Not the same as a human, but transplants to other primates were moderately successful [1]:

> Researchers transplanted kidneys from genetically engineered Yucatan pigs into cynomolgus monkeys such as the one above. The monkeys survived for up to two years with the xenografts.

[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/monkeys-with-tran...

“easy”

Different cases and different organs

I remember that too, and can't believe it's already been a year since that happened. Now I wonder what the next organ to cross the pig-human border will be.

It's so interesting.

It was done over the course of decades by the company that made Dolly the cloned sheep all those years ago.

There are a handful, maybe a dozen genetic changes that were needed, but that's not the most interesting part.

Endemic to the general swine population are several retrovirus'. They are communicable, so they had to create an entirely separate breeding population of these pigs, with the genetic modifications, and then raise and otherwise maintain a breeding population that is totally separate from other farms. Something as simple as a feed truck delivery could lead to a compromise. Think about a farm, but total microbiological isolation.

I'm sure (99.9%) its patented, so you can find and read those patents. i expect there should also be a list of publications in it what it was based on. its probably heavy biology / chemistry though (i know, as I've been researching other gene modification patent stuff before)

Alternatively, let's wish the best to both of them.

That would be the holy grail, but there are innumerable hurdles to cross first.

They seem to have had success with making a bladder:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45470799

But a bladder is just a tube. Cultivating and growing a multilayered higher functioning organ like a kidney or a heart is a lot harder.

I do hope they can pull it off though, especially if they can reset the genetic clocks on the new organs.

I imagine there are trillions of dollars on the line as well. Organs are big money and necessary for life but there's also the plastic surgery aspect.

For instance, new skin.

I could see 25-50 years from now being able to go to the doctors and drop off a few skin cells and then coming back 3 months later, shucking your old skin and getting the new skin put on, floating in a star wars bacta tank for a week or so while the nerve integrate and the sutures heal, and then coming out looking like a teenager again.

But not just for old people but for burn victims, too.

Of course, while you're at it, get your new heart / lungs / kidneys / knees / eyes / hair follicles / breast & genital upgrades / remove all of the excess fat from your body / upgrade muscles / get a new set of adult teeth installed / get any bone level deformities handled...

The wealthy could go into these retreats for a few months and come out as basically a brand new human if they had the cash or credit.