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Xenotransplantation
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# Xenotransplantation Portal: Frontier Biotech Stage: First-in-human, experimental Evidence: Early human Template: Technology Risk: High Reversibility: Irreversible Last reviewed: Jun 2026 == Summary == Gene-edited pig organs have kept human recipients alive for weeks to months, opening a possible route around the chronic shortage of human donor organs. == Key takeaways == * Multi-gene-edited pigs reduce hyperacute rejection and remove some cross-species infection risk. * Early human cases and brain-dead-recipient studies have tested pig hearts and kidneys. * Durable rejection control and infection surveillance are the gating problems. == How it works == Pigs are engineered to remove sugars that trigger immediate human immune attack, to add human regulatory proteins, and to inactivate endogenous retroviruses. The goal is an organ the human immune system tolerates long enough to be useful. The organ shortage is the motivation: far more people need transplants than there are human donors, and waiting-list mortality is high. A reliable animal source would change the arithmetic of transplantation. == What has been shown == Gene-edited pig hearts and kidneys have been transplanted into a small number of living recipients and into brain-dead recipients maintained for study. Recipients have survived weeks to months, with rejection and infection as recurring themes. These are experimental cases under special authorizations, not routine care. The path forward requires controlled trials, better immunosuppression, and rigorous monitoring for cross-species infection before xenotransplantation could become standard. == Open questions == * Can rejection be controlled for years rather than months? * How is cross-species infection risk monitored at population scale? == Watchlist == * Controlled clinical trials * Long-term immunosuppression * Endogenous retrovirus surveillance == References == * Genetically modified pig heart transplant — Griffith et al., NEJM, 2022. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201422. First transplant of a gene-edited pig heart into a living human recipient. * Xenotransplantation review — Cooper et al., Nature Reviews Nephrology, 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37653116/. Reviews progress, immunology, and infection considerations. == Categories == [[Category:Frontier Biotech]] [[Category:transplantation]] [[Category:gene editing]] [[Category:organs]]