The first transplant of pig's kidney to human recipient!!

[PeaB4YouGo]

cnn.com/2024/03/21/health/p...

I asked, on Reddit, if anyone was willing to take a pig's kidney, if one was offered, I got some interesting answers. Now, I'd like to hear from you guys,

What do you say? Would you take the opportunity? Why, or why not?

Me? I think I'd do it just for the novelty factor, if they can get me another few years down the road. In fact, I think it'd be a great temporary until a suitable human kidney arrived.

Thoughts?

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

I would take one in a heartbeat. Two reasons. I believe in the process, and I would want to support this clinical break through. So even if it was experimental, I would do it.

[Marvin8]

Most every CKD patient would take a pig kidney if things got to the point of dialysis and the patient isn't too old. The problem is that DaVita and Fresenius will fight this to the ends of the earth before throwing in the towel. Watch their stock price. It'll tell you everything you need to know. Even if successful, it'll take decades before pig kidney xenografts are commonly available.

[Pontios in reply to Marvin8]

It is a really interesting post. This is a milestone anyway you look at it. It certainly shortens the road to Xenotransplants becoming commonplace. A different avenue I am watching is IL-11 inhibitor antibody which started phase 1 clinical trials Sept 2023.

[Marvin8 in reply to Pontios]

Thanks for the head's up on the IL-11! Hadn't even heard of this before. It does indeed look promising. I also wonder if there's been any significant headway made at regrowing kidneys via stem cells.

[Darlenia in reply to Marvin8]

I see an interesting battle shaping up - the biotech industry against the dialysis industry. Both have lots of money. Apparently the US and some other nations are supportive with the US (also Switzerland?) providing some funding for research and greenlighting approvals. I know the US has been very unhappy with the dialysis and human transplant industry - forcing huge Medicare pay outs, etc. Money talks. Interesting forces are at play.

[horsie63]

I'm not yet to the point in dialysis that it's a pig kidney or die so I'd have a lot of questions. They genetically modified a pig so I imagine the cost is astronomical and won't be a viable option for many years. And two the ethics around using an animal for testing a procedure has me cringing. I believe animals have souls just like humans don't believe in using them to test things.

Not sure how I feel about genetically modified anything. Guess we'll hear about how well he does verus the two heart patients that died week after getting theirs.

[WinJ3 in reply to horsie63]

I am curious . Do you eat any meat?

[horsie63 in reply to WinJ3]

Yes pretty much anything

[MartyVA]

Great question! Having received an anonymous live donor kidney, I am doing all I can to ensure nothing happens to this kidney. However, if something were to happen, I would be willing to try a pig's kidney. Two reasons. First, I did not do dialysis before getting my current kidney and would prefer not to do dialysis, if possible. Second, at my age, soon to be 77, I would think having a pig's kidney would contribute information regarding criteria for tolerating an alternative kidney to a human transplanted kidney. By using a pig's kidney after a human transplant kidney has failed are there any restrictions or precautions we need to know about? I hope somewhere someone has a long list of things that need to be studied on this topic so that we can eliminate those transplant waitlists. Thanks for asking.

[bumblebee_tuna]

This can potentially be a kidney for life and won’t require immunosuppressive drugs. It has great potential.