For the first time, pig kidneys transplanted to humans have taken root perfectly and function normally.

A successful operation was carried out by scientists from the University of Alabama: both kidneys of a patient in need of a transplant were replaced with genetically modified pigs.

Previously, writes Air Force, he was diagnosed with brain death, the transplant operation was performed with the permission of his family. Donor organs were not rejected and functioned normally – they produced urine, cleansing the body of toxic waste products. This happened for the first time in the history of medicine.

The unique operation is described in detail in a scientific journal published on August 16 JAMA Surgery. Its success has given hope to tens of thousands of transplant patients.

It is no secret that the demand for donor organs around the world greatly exceeds the supply. Of the five patients in the United States waiting for a transplant, two do not wait for suitable donor organs and die within five years of being diagnosed.

So that after such an operation the patient’s body does not reject the donor organ as foreign, pig kidneys for transplantation are grown specially and “humanized” by the method of genetic adaptation. In the DNA chain, scientists find and “turn off” four exclusively pig genes (GTKO, CMAH, B4GALNT2, GHR), after which they supplement it with six human genes (CD46, CD55, CD47, THBD, PROCR, HMOX1).

This time, the doctors succeeded not only in ensuring that the donor organ took root, but also that it worked perfectly normally, performing all its functions.

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