Hello, Kidney Friends! In recent years, the medical community has made remarkable progress in xenotransplantation.
2021
A medical team at the University of Maryland has successfully transplanted the kidneys of a gene-edited pig into a human for the first time, marking an important step towards pig-to-human xenotransplantation. They followed up with the First Living Heart Xenotransplantation, a potential treatment for patients with organ failure. Many people may ask, can xenotransplantation be used clinically in the short term? The answer is not good.
Image: Poor Things, xenotransplantation of animals
Back in the 1950s,
scientists have been experimenting with xenotransplantation in animals, but these experiments have always been controversial ethically. With the progress of science and technology, especially the development of gene editing technology, the ethical issues of xenotransplantation become more complex. Scientists, doctors, ethicists and policy makers are all debating the issue.
At present, there are strict ethical and policy norms at home and abroad to guide the Clinical Trials of Xenotransplantation. In 2008, for example, the WHO issued the Changsha Declaration, which sets standards for Clinical Research in xenotransplantation. The specification has been updated several times since then. At the same time, the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation has also issued the“Chinese human xenotransplantation clinical trial expert consensus”, which clearly regulates the clinical trials of xenotransplantation. These norms and consensuses show that Xenotransplantation is still in preclinical and small-scale clinical trials, and there is still a long way to go before it can be used in clinical practice. In fact, the clinical application of Xenotransplantation has not been officially approved either at home or abroad. The successful cases mentioned earlier are in fact under special circumstances, it can only be used if it meets the“Compassionate use” provision, which refers to patients who are seriously ill or in critical condition and have no other treatment options.
What are the conditions?
So, what are the conditions that need to be met for xenotransplantation to truly enter the clinic? The International Xenotransplantation Steering Committee has set clear goals: first, 60% of recipients will survive more than 3 months after xenotransplantation and at least 10 consecutive cases of such success will be required. Second, xenotransplantation requires the ability to permanently replace the original organ, which means that at least 50 percent of the recipients survive more than six months after receiving the transplant. Therefore, a large number of clinical trials and long-term observation are needed before xenotransplantation can be used in clinical practice. This could take years or more. So, at least in the short term, we’re not going to be able to use pig kidneys. However, with the progress of science and Technology and the deepening of research, we believe that Xenotransplantation will bring more hope and possibility for human beings in the future.
That’s all for today. If you find this article useful, feel free to follow it, like it, watch it, share it with friends, or find out more about kidney transplantation. See you next time.
