2023-08-28 17:04:48
On Wednesday August 16, a team of American researchers announced that the genetically modified pig kidney they had transplanted into a brain-dead patient was continuing to function 32 days after the transplant (see Xenotransplantation: a second experiment in ‘man).
It is ” longest time a genetically modified pig kidney has worked in a human said the hospital. NYU Langone in a press release. The scientists plan to continue the experiment for another month.
Maurice Miller, a 57-year-old man who was brain dead and placed on an artificial respirator, had donated his body to science. It was his sister, Mary Miller-Duffy, who agreed to the experiment. ” It was a very difficult decision to make “, she testifies.
Immune response analysis
In addition to the pig kidney, genetically modified to avoid the rejection reaction, the researchers also transplanted the thymus of the pig, ” a gland that plays an important role in the immune response (cf. Double heart-thymus transplant in a 6-month-old infant). The goal is that ” the thymus helps the recipient’s cells identify those of the pig as its own, thus also helping to avoid rejection “, specified Dr. Adam Griesemer, member of the team, during a press conference. The role of the thymus will be analyzed at the end of the two months of experimentation.
On August 18, the research team Multidimensional Approaches in Organ Transplantation of Paris Cité University, Inserm and AP-HP, led by Professor Alexandre Loupy at the Paris Institute of Multi-Organ Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine (PITOR), in collaboration with the Institute NYU Langone Healthpublished a study in the journal The Lancet presenting ” the mechanisms involved in the immune response occurring after transplantation of genetically modified pig kidneys in humans » and identifier « therapeutic solutions to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ “. Of the ” discoveries ” Who ” raise France to the forefront of xenotransplantation ».
Towards clinical trials?
« The pig kidney replaces all important functions performed by a human kidney says Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the Transplant Institute of NYU Langone. This experimentation must allow for a clinical trial on a living human “, he says.
« Many thought “it would not be possible to sustain a deceased for such a long time after brain death” said Dr. Montgomery. ” The functions normally carried out by the brain, regulation of temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, etc., have been replaced by constant monitoring and care by a medical team.. »
THE National Institutes of Health (NIH) design “ Currently » future clinical trials (cf. A German researcher embarks on pig farming for xenografts).
Sources: Le Figaro with AFP (08/16/2023); Inserm, CP (18/08/2023)
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