Surgeons World’s First Pig-Human liver transplantation | Science, Climate and Technical News

The surgeons performed the world’s first liver transplant to a human recipient from a pig.

The operation in China used a liver from a genetically modified pig to reduce the chance of the organ to be rejected by a human immune system.

The organ has successfully produced bile and basic proteins in a patient, the brain dead, but still alive.

Relatives wanted the experiment to be stopped after 10 days, but the researchers say the organ may have worked longer.

They greeted the transplant as a “great success” and European experts called it an important milestone that can save lives in the future.

The Surgical Team from the Xijing Hospital in Xi’an received a bama miniature pigs with six keys modified to increase the compatibility of an organ when the liver was transferred to a person.

According to the results published in the Science Journal Nature, the liver was normally functional without good blood flow and rejection.

Professor Lin Wang, who led the research team, said that the transfer was carried out with full ethical approval from the medical authorities and consent from the patient’s family.

“The surgery was really successful,” he said to a news conference.

“The liver from the pig served very well in the human body. So this is a great success.”

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The hearts and kidneys from genetically modified pigs have already been transferred to a handful of live patients. He died in weeks after most operations, but it seems that two people with pork kidneys survived in the United States.

Professor Wang said that a liver transplant from a pig is much more complex.

“The heart only produces a pump, the kidney only produces urine,” he said.

“But the liver has many functions, so it’s a big obstacle for us to solve it.”

A few research groups try pigs grown in super clean facilities for organ donation.

Pigs are used because organs are similar to those in a human being in size and structure. However, after transplantation, key genes must be modified to reduce the risk of being attacked by a patient’s immune system.

Chinese researchers recommend using Pig organs as a temporary support to renew the pressure of a patient or to give more time to find a permanent organ from a suitable human donor.

Currently, there are more than 600 patients in a liver transplant waiting list in the UK. The average waiting of an organ from a deceased donor is three to four months.

Ivan Fernandez Vega, a professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Oviedo in Spain, described the experiment as an important “milestone”.

“Optimizing this approach is very important to optimize this approach, as the existing organs can expand the pool and save life in the emergency of liver, clinical results are very important.” He said.

The Chinese team plans to repeat the experience for a long time, longer, without going into the first clinical transplants in living people.