Pig liver for the first time transplanted into brain -dead people

Chinese doctors have used a pork liver in a brain -dead person worldwide for the first time. The organ had already produced bile shortly after the procedure, the team wrote in its final report on the transplantation in the “Nature” journal. The liver worked after ten days until the attempt end. The genome of the donor pig had been changed in six places to avoid rejection reactions.

« It is a world premiere and a big step for transplant medicine, » commented the surgeon Bruno Reichart, who researched the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich in Xeno Transplantation and was not involved in the procedure. « The liver is a very complicated organ. The proteins produced by the liver are very specific for people. »

Pig hearts and kidney had already been transplanted into humans in experiments. However, there are still a few hurdles to be overcome until a regular use of this so -called xenotransplantation.

The attempt with the liver ended according to the wishes of the brain dead family after ten days, as the Chinese news agency Xinhua wrote shortly after the transplant in 2024. In the case of a brain dead, the brain failed irrevocably. However, the circulation can be maintained for a while due to artificial ventilation and medication.

Transplant should bridge short -term liver loss

« We observed that the liver in the human body worked well, » said Xinhua at the time one of the three senior doctors, Hai-Long Don from Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an. According to the study, later tissue cuts showed no signs of a rejection of the liver. However, the doctors gave medication to suppress them. In view of the lack of organ donors, pigs should serve as organ donors in the future, since their metabolism resembles that of humans.

The Chinese team had left the liver of the brain dead in the body when trying. « A supportive liver transplant is an ideal bridging therapy for patients with liver failure, » writes it. The pork liver could be removed relatively easily as soon as the function of the original liver is restored or a human donor organ is available.

« With acute liver failure – for example through poisoning – a bridging of two weeks could help because the liver can then recover, » said veterinarian Eckhard Wolf, also from the LMU.

Already transplanted several hearts and kidneys of pigs

So far, two transplants from pig people to living people have become known worldwide, both at the university clinic in Baltimore (USA). The patients died a few weeks after the operation.

In addition, four patients in the United States would have received pigs, said Wolf – with different success. Dozens of other kidney transplants are planned there. Wolf and his team have already changed and bred pigs from New Zealand for heart transplantation. You want to start with it in 2027.

Researchers soon suspect several hundred transplants per year

Both wolf and the researchers in China use particularly small pig breeds. According to wolf, the organs grow in humans in conventional pigs and become too great.

He believes that it will be possible to transplant hundreds of pig organs a year in 2030, says Wolf. Pigs are easy to breed, but it depends on how the upcoming attempts go.

The transplant of the pork liver in China, on the other hand, does not allow any conclusions to be used to use this organ. « Still tests on brain dead have a high level of relevance, » says Wolf. You could provide findings that could not be obtained in animal experiments.

« Future studies have to distinguish between bridging therapy and a long -term xenotransplantation, » writes the Chinese team. In the study, the pork liver made bile and pig albumin, but it was unlikely that the quantities produced are sufficient for a person in the long term. According to the authors, this form of transplant could one day be more suitable as a bridging therapy for temporary liver failure.