MA Man Receives World's 1st Pig Kidney Transplant

BOSTON, MA — A 62-year-old man from Weymouth just became the first person in the world to receive a successful genetically-edited pig kidney transplant, Massachusetts General Hospital announced Thursday.

Richard 'Rick' Slayman, who suffered from end-stage kidney failure, underwent the four-hour long surgery Saturday as a life-saving measure, hospital officials said. He is recovering well and is expected to be discharged soon.

The pig kidney, which had 69 genomic edits, was provided by eGenesis of Cambridge from a pig donor that was genetically-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

"Harmful pig genes" were removed while certain human genes were added to improve the organ's compatibility with the patient, hospital officials added. Scientists also inactivated retroviruses in the pig donor to eliminate any risk of infection in humans.

The procedure, conducted under the leadership of Leonardo V. Riella, MD, PhD, Medical Director for Kidney Transplantation, Tatsuo Kawai, MD, PhD, Director of the Legorreta Center for Clinical Transplant Tolerance, along with Nahel Elias, MD, Interim Chief of Transplant Surgery and Surgical Director for Kidney Transplantation, "marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients," according to the hospital.

Mass General Brigham has a rich history in organ transplant innovation. The world’s first successful human organ transplant, of a kidney, was performed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1954, and the nation's first penile transplant was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2016.

"Mass General Brigham researchers and clinicians are constantly pushing the boundaries of science to transform medicine and solve significant health issues facing our patients in their daily lives," Anne Klibanski, MD, the president and CEO of Mass General Brigham, said Thursday. "Nearly seven decades after the first successful kidney transplant, our clinicians have once again demonstrated our commitment to provide innovative treatments and help ease the burden of disease for our patients and others around the world."

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. await an organ for transplant and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ. A kidney is the most common organ needed for transplant, and end-stage kidney disease rates are estimated to increase 29-68 percent in the U.S. by 2030, according to literature published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.