By Chinelo Eze 11 January 2022 | 11:57 am A US citizen, David Bennett, has lived for 3 days through the heart of a pig. Bennett, who has terminal heart disease, had a breakthrough pig heart transplant, the first-of-a-kind surgery, his doctors reported. The surgery was performed by a team at the University of Maryland Medicine in the United States. It is one of… A US citizen, David Bennett, has lived for 3 days through the heart of a pig. Bennett, who has terminal heart disease, had a breakthrough pig heart transplant, the first-of-a-kind surgery, his doctors reported. FILE PHOTO: Piglets are seen by a sow at a pig farm in Zhoukou, Henan province, China June 3, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo The surgery was performed by a team at the University of Maryland Medicine in the United States. It is one of the first surgery to confirm the feasibility of a pig-to-human heart transplant, made possible by new gene-editing tools. If successful, surgeons hope the genetic modifications will help Benette’s body accept the organ and that pig organ could help ease shortages of donor organs. “This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis. There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who surgically transplanted the pig heart into the patient, said in a statement. “We are proceeding cautiously, but we are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future.” For the 57-year-old patient from Maryland, the heart transplant was his last option. “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said a day before his scheduled surgery. To commence with the experimental surgery, the university received emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration on New Year’s Eve through its compassionate use programme. A statement released by the university reads, “The FDA used our data and data on the experimental pig to authorise the transplant in an end-stage heart disease patient who had no other treatment options,” said Dr Muhammad Mohiuddin, who heads the University’s programme on xenotransplantation – transplanting animal organs into humans.” In the heart implanted in Bennett, three genes previously linked with organ rejection were “knocked out” of the donor pig, and six human genes linked with immune acceptance were inserted into the pig genome. In addition to the genetic differences to the pig heart, Bennett received an experimental anti-rejection drug. Researchers also deleted a pig gene to prevent excessive growth of the pig heart tissue. Bennett’s genetically modified pig heart was provided by Revivicor, a regenerative medicine company based in Virginia. On the morning of the surgery, the transplant team removed the pig’s heart placing it into a special device to preserve its function until the surgery. Pigs have long been a viable option for potential transplants because of the similarity of their organs to humans. Other organs from pigs being researched for transplantation into humans include kidneys, liver, and lungs. Initial efforts at pig-to-human transplants have failed because of genetic differences that resulted in organ rejection or viruses that posed an infection risk.
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