国产诱惑福利

Scientists are so their organs are more humanlike in hopes of alleviating a transplant shortage. Two initial xenotransplants in the U.S. 鈥� and 鈥� were short-lived. But two additional pig kidney recipients so far are thriving 鈥� an transplanted in November and a transplanted in January. A U.S. clinical trial is about to begin.

Nearly three weeks after the kidney surgery the Chinese patient "is very well鈥� and the pig kidney likewise is functioning very well, Dr. Lin Wang of Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi鈥檃n told reporters in a briefing this week.

Wang, part of the hospital's xenotransplant team, said the kidney recipient remains in the hospital for testing. Chinese media have reported she is a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with kidney failure eight years ago.

But Wang pointed to a potential next step in xenotransplantation 鈥� learning to transplant pig livers. His team reported Wednesday in the journal Nature that a pig liver transplanted into a brain-dead person survived for 10 days, with no early signs of rejection. He said the pig liver produced bile and albumin 鈥� important for basic organ function 鈥� although not as much as human livers do.

The liver is a complex challenge because of its varied jobs, including removing waste, breaking down nutrients and medicines, fighting infection, storing iron and regulating blood clotting.

鈥淲e do find that it could function a little bit in a human being,鈥� Wang said. He speculated that would be enough to help support a failing human liver.

In the U.S. last year, surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania attempted that sort of 鈥渂ridge鈥� support to a brain-dead human body to filter blood, much like dialysis for failing kidneys. U.S. pig developer eGenesis is studying that approach.

In China, Wang鈥檚 team didn鈥檛 remove the deceased person鈥檚 own liver, instead implanting the pig liver near it.

That 鈥渃louds the picture,鈥� said Dr. Parsia Vagefi, a liver transplant surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center who wasn't involved with the work. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hopefully a first step but it鈥檚 still, a lot like any good research, more questions than answers.鈥�

Wang said his team later replaced the human liver of another brain-dead person with a pig liver and is analyzing the outcome.

According to media reports, another Chinese hospital last year transplanted a pig liver into a living patient after a piece of his own cancerous liver was removed but it鈥檚 unclear how that experiment turned out.

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