Pig Kidney Bridges to Human Transplant in World First — SkimNews
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- Tim Andrews, a 66-year-old New Hampshire man with end-stage kidney disease caused by type 2 diabetes, lived 271 days free of dialysis on a genetically modified pig kidney — the longest recorded survival for a pig-to-human xenograft in a living person.
- The donor organ came from a Yucatan miniature pig named Wilma, whose genome received 69 edits designed to remove viral risks and reduce the odds of immune rejection before transplantation at Mass General Brigham in January 2025.
- Mass General Brigham surgeons removed the failing pig kidney at nine months after blood vessel damage progressed to organ failure; Andrews subsequently received a deceased human donor kidney that worked well during six months of follow-up.
- Dr. Leonardo Riella of Mass General Brigham's Center for Transplantation Sciences called the organ shortage 'the greatest crisis we have right now in transplantation' and framed xenotransplantation as both a bridge therapy and potential destination therapy.
- No pig viruses or pathogens were detected at any point and no new antibodies against human tissue formed — suggesting the prior xenograft had not sensitized Andrews's immune system to the subsequent human transplant.
- The team cautioned this was a single-patient case with no comparison group, and that the outcome reflected careful patient selection and intensive specialist care that may not be replicable elsewhere; further clinical trials are still needed.
Why it matters: For the first time, a pig kidney kept a living patient stable long enough to reach a human transplant — proof-of-concept that xenotransplantation can function as a clinical bridge for the tens of thousands on organ waiting lists. The clean immunological handoff (no new anti-human antibodies) matters more than the survival record, because sensitization typically disqualifies future transplant candidates.
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