Physicians at NYU Langone performed the transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a decedent organ recipient in July and now, 61 days later, have completed what is said to be the "longest-documented case of a genetically engineered pig kidney functioning in a human body," according to a Sept. 14 news release.
"In order to create a sustainable unlimited supply of organs, we need to know how to manage pig organs transplanted into humans," Robert Montgomery, MD, PhD, the director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said in the release. "Testing them in a decedent allows us to optimize the immunosuppression regimen and choice of gene edits without putting a living patient at risk."
In August, just one month into the research, Dr. Montgomery had confirmed during a press conference that initial results were positive and showed no signs of rejection.
"The pig kidney appears to replace all of the important tasks that the human kidney manages," he stated during the Aug. 16 press call.
Now that the study has wrapped-up, Dr. Montgomery and his team will dive into the data collected throughout the 61-day period and proceed to perform additional testing to understand cellular and molecular changes that occurred which could affect the management of clinical outcomes in the future.
Dr. Montgomery will publish additional findings from the tests and research analysis in the months to come. A future study involving living humans could also be on the horizon, according to the release.