Transplantologists have long considered pigs to be the closest organ donors to humans, but the threat of their rejection by the human body did not allow such operations to be put on stream. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese startup PorMedTec, with the support of the American company eGenesis, this week received three newborn piglets that were previously modified at the genetic level in such a way as to allow the successful transplantation of their organs into representatives of other mammal species.
Image source: PorMedTec, Nikkei Asian Review
In fact, eggs modified at the genetic level were implanted in a pig, which subsequently carried and gave birth to three piglets, whose organs are highly likely not to be rejected by the human body. A pig kidney, created with the participation of the American company eGenesis, has already been transplanted into a monkey, with which it was able to live for two years after the operation.
Clinical trials of this technology with human participation are planned to be carried out before the end of 2025, and kidneys from genetically modified piglets are also planned to be transplanted into people, since in Japan there is an acute problem of shortage of these organs. Every day, about 350,000 patients in the country undergo hemodialysis due to the failure of their own kidneys, the national health care costs for this procedure amount to 4% of Japan’s entire core budget, and the waiting list for kidney transplants totals 14,000 people and corresponds to a waiting time of 15 years. Many patients simply do not live to see the desired surgery.