An Alabama woman reached a major milestone Saturday and became the longest-living recipient. Pig Organ Transplantation – Healthy and energetic with your new kidney for 61 days and counting.
“I’m superwoman,” Twanna Looney told The Associated Press, laughing about trailing family members on long walks around New York City as she continues her recovery. “It’s a new step on life.”
Lonnie’s dynamic recovery adds motivation to the effort. Transplantation of animals to humans is a fact.. Only four other Americans have received highly experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs. two hearts And Two kidneys – and none survived more than two months.
“If you saw her on the street, you wouldn’t know she was the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ working inside her,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health. , who led Lonnie’s transplant.
Montgomery described Looney’s kidney function as “absolutely normal.” Doctors hope she can leave New York – where she is temporarily staying for post-transplant checkups – for her Gadsden, Alabama, home in about another month.
“We’re pretty optimistic that it’s going to continue to work and work well for, you know, a significant period of time,” he said.
There are scientists. Genetically modified pigs Their organs are therefore more human-like to meet the acute shortage of transplantable human organs. More than 100,000 people are on the US transplant list, most of whom need a kidney, and thousands die waiting.
Pig organ transplants have until now been “compassionate use” cases, with the Food and Drug Administration only allowing experiments in special circumstances for people who have run out of other options.
And a handful of hospitals that have tried them are sharing information about what worked and what didn’t, in preparation for the world’s first formal study of xenotransplantation, which is expected to begin sometime this year. United Therapeutics, which provided Looney’s kidney, recently sought approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin the trial.
Dr. Tatsu Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital said how Looney Fares “is a very valuable experience.” The first kidney of a pig Transplanted last year and works with another pig developer, eGenesis.
Kawai noted that Lonnie was much healthier than previous patients, so her progress will help inform the next effort. He said that we have to learn from each other.
Lonnie donated a kidney to his mother in 1999. Later complications from the pregnancy led to high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually failed, an incredibly rare occurrence among living donors. He spent eight years on dialysis before doctors concluded he would never receive a donated organ – he unusually developed extremely high levels of antibodies to attack another human kidney. were
So Lonnie, 53, sought out the pig experiment. No one knew how it would work in someone “hypersensitive” with these overactive antibodies.
Discharged just 11 days after the Nov. 25 surgery, Montgomery’s team has closely tracked his recovery through blood tests and other measurements. About three weeks after the transplant, they noticed subtle signs that rejection was beginning — signs they had learned to look for. 2023 experience When a pig kidney functioned for 61 days inside a dead person whose body was donated for research.
Montgomery said they successfully treated Lonnie and she has had no signs of rejection since — and she had an appointment a few weeks ago. The family behind this dead body investigation.
“It’s really nice to know that the decision I made to use my brother for NYU was the right one and it’s helping people,” said Mary Miller Duffy of Newburgh, New York.
Lonnie is trying to help others in return, what Montgomery calls an ambassador for people who are reaching out to her through social media, sharing their pain during long waits for transplants and pig kidneys. Thinking about
One, he said, was being considered for a xenotransplant at another hospital but was scared, wondering whether to proceed.
“I didn’t want to convince him to do it or not,” Looney said. Instead he asked if she was religious and urged her to pray, “beyond your faith, what your heart tells you.”
“I like talking to people, I like helping people,” he added. “I want to be some educational piece” for scientists to help others.
There’s no way to predict how long Lonnie’s new kidney will work, but if it fails, she may have to undergo dialysis again.
“The reality is we don’t really know what the next hurdles are because this is the first time we’ve gotten this far,” Montgomery said. “We’re going to have to continue to really keep a close eye on it.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
