Bill Stewart, a self-described ‘science nerd’, is the latest American to get an experimental pig kidney transplant. He received his kidney on June 14 at Massachusetts General Hospital.
According to an Associated Press (AP) article, Stewart’s transplant is taking place at a crucial point in the “quest to prove if animals’ organs really might save human lives.” The Dover, N.H., athletic trainer told the AP that he really wants to contribute to the science of it.
Meanwhile, the team at Massachusetts General announced another New Hampshire man, Tim Andrews, has been off dialysis for a record seven months and counting with his kidney from a gene-edited pig.
Massachusetts General kidney specialist Dr. Leonardo Riella is helping lead a new clinical trial studying kidney xenotransplants with approved pig producer eGenesis, the article says. Riella says there has been a bottleneck in finding enough human organs. Genetically altered pigs could be an option for the more than 100,000 people on the U.S. transplant list, most of whom need a kidney.
Initial experiments (two hearts and two kidneys) were short-lived and included very ill patients. After an Alabama woman’s pig kidney lasted 130 days, before rejection prompted its removal and sent her back to dialysis, researchers decided to shift to not-as-sick patients, AP reports.
Stewart’s kidneys failed due to high blood pressure, but he has no other health problems, the article explains. After being on dialysis for two years, and realizing it could take up to seven years for people with his blood type to find a matching kidney, Stewart applied to be the next candidate.
He’s thrilled to be easing back into desk duties and is optimistic. Although it’s too early to predict how long pig kidneys might be able to last, Riella says it would be useful even if they can buy people time off dialysis until they can find a matching human organ.
The new eGenesis trial is expected to provide gene-edited pig kidney transplants to 30 people age 50 or older who are on dialysis and the transplant list. Another developer of gene-edited pig organs, United Therapeutics, is about to start enrolling people in a similar FDA-approved study, AP reports.
