Surgeons successfully test pig kidney transplant in human patient

Researchers in US say trial on dead person is a ‘significant step’ toward animal-to-human organ transplantsSurgeons have attached a pig ’s kidney to a human and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.Pigs have been the most recent research focus to address the organ shortage, but a sugar in their cells, which is foreign to the human body, causes immediate organ rejection. The kidney for this experiment came from a gene-edited animal, engineered to eliminate that sugar and avoid an immune system attack.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - October 20, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Associated Press Tags: Organ donation Health Animals Society World news US news Medical research Science Source Type: news