Pig lung transplanted into a person in world first

In a milestone for xenotransplantation, a lung from a genome-edited pig was transplanted into a 39-year-old man in China and survived for nine days before care decisions ended the trial. The study, published by Nature Medicine, shows that pig organs may one day address donor shortages, though immune rejection and tissue injury remain major hurdles. The pig used six genome edits to reduce rejection risk and to express three human proteins to protect the organ from attack. Early signs suggested no rejection or infection, but the lung swelled and tissue damage occurred after a period without oxygen, with antibody-related injury appearing on days three and six. The researchers paused the trial at the family’s request; the work nonetheless points toward further, carefully controlled exploration of cross-species organ solutions. Original article published by Nature Medicine.