Xenotransplants Edge Closer to Reality

There is still no consensus on the best way to humanize pig organs, but recent progress has convinced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to greenlight the first clinical trial.

The trial will begin enrolling six participants, and could expand to 44 if early results are promising. A six-month survival after the xenotransplant will be considered a success indicator, although it’s unclear how many patients will need to reach this milestone to win the agency’s approval.

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Back to the basics of xenohearts

UHeart™ (photo credit United Therapeutics)

As you probably know, on January 7 at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore  a 57 years old man named David Bennett became the first human to have his heart replaced with that of a CRISPRed pig. But what does make a xenoheart suitable for transplantation?

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