In a first, scientists transplanted both a pig liver and kidneys into a person who was brain-dead

In a first, scientists transplanted both a pig liver and kidneys into a person who was brain-dead

The transplanted pig organs functioned for 36 hours before showing signs of rejection

A 53-year-old clinically dead man has become the first person to receive two kidneys and a whole liver from a genetically modified pig. The man’s organ function was sustained for almost five days with consent from his family, and there were no signs that the organs were being rejected in the first 24 hours, according to a study published in Med today.

Most procedures in which a pig organ is transplanted into a person — known as xenotransplantation — involve only a single organ. A small number of people have received pig organs, including hearts, kidneys , partial livers and lungs , and clinical trials in living people are under way in the United States and China. Until now, only parts of a pig liver have been transplanted into a person, says clinician-scientist Xuyong Sun, who led the latest procedure, at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, China.

Transplanting pig kidneys and a liver in the same procedure is also unique, says Leonardo Riella, a physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who in 2024 led the team that first transplanted a pig kidney into a living person. Transferring multiple organs is more complex than moving one; procedures take longer, increasing the risk of complications, and people who need multiple transplants are often more seriously ill, he adds.

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The study shows that multi-organ xenotransplants are possible, says Wayne Hawthorne, a surgeon and transplant researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Multi-organ transplants are already performed with human organs, but there is a shortage of donor organs, which is why research teams are investigating the use of pig kidneys.